Nice house!! Is the drainage issue the reason he sold that other home?
CB, you wanted my buyers’ perspective on inspections. We just did one and are negotiating. This was an old house that we liked. The inspection uncovered roof rats (surprise! Not - it is common), rotting decks, leaky skylight, some siding that needs to be patched, a roof that needs to be eventually replaced, a few minor issues, like a toilet that does not work, doors that do not close all the way, etc. The report was 50 pages long or so. We simply asked the sellers for $X off the price and orally stated that we fix the crap ourselves. We expect them to counter $Y. Depending on $X-Y, we will counter or accept. 
If Y is going to be $0, we will remind their realtor that the house was not listed “as is,” and that the sellers did not disclose obvious stuff on Form 17. That might get them to meet us at a more reasonable place.
Your house has the yard they want and need for little children!
But geez…what a gorgeous former house!! He was living in that alone???
@thumper1 is correct. The yard is what makes the house appealing to a family with kids. That nice house on a slope, no matter how great inside, does not have this kid-friendly feature.
Yes, he was living in that house alone. I believe that he met his fiancee and they decided to move for a more family friendly home. Who knows?? I feel that my house is going to be let down after all that fancy stuff. Definitely not going to get that closet crammed into my little master closet. Although I did drive by the project today and there was a closet company installing the Elfa systems into the house
The Seller definitely should have disclosed a toilet not working, skylight roof leak. I wonder if he even knew about the roof rats?
Seller not disclosing is a big deal in California and would lead buyers to ask ??? what else does he know about that was not disclosed? His agent should be embarrassed that their client did not disclose on the legal form.
I bought that small house in La Mesa and the Seller was required to disclose. He did not disclose a ton of stuff that he knew about. I know that he knew about it because when I went into the City to inquire about the garage rebuild, etc. they told me that he came into their office several times and they told him X, Y, Z. Most importantly, he absolutely knew that the house was in a designated historic district, yet he answered ‘No’ on the specific section of the form. He also did not disclose that SDGE had red tagged the house or why they red tagged it. We found out later, although we would have replaced all the gas lines anyways, but I would have preferred to avoid the bureaucratic hassle to get the gas turned back on (SDGE required a City permit and inspection before they would turn service back on).
The seller did know or should have reasonably known about the pests - judging by the rat traps installed in the attic. 
We still think it is worth pursuing the place. Shhhhh… Don’t tell anyone.
Ooh, don’t say much yet, but dying to know where.
Cute NY Times story about the identical kitchen layout redone differently by three different owners in an apartment building: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/realestate/one-kitchen-done-three-ways.html?action=click&contentCollection=Real%20Estate&pgtype=imageslideshow&module=RelatedArticleList®ion=SlideShowTopBar&version=EndSlate
His previous house was quite impressive, but yours has a much more interesting character. For all that he had that glory closet, it showed a lot of shirts that were wrinkled and had rolled up sleeves. Perhaps he was tired of the fancy digs.
I bet he haggled over price so he could feel like he at least made a little profit by “downsizing”.
P.S. Love your final photo!
Sadly, WA Supreme Court has handed a big cookie to slimy sellers saying Form 17 is a phooey. It is “buyers beware” here in my state. That, plus the SF-like crazy market helps those sellers that are a bit less than honest.
Just saw a blurb that Vancouver BC experienced 40% drop in RE sales, and the prices are down almost 9%… most likely due to that 15% tax on the Chinese money bags. Guess where the moneybags ended up?
Can they tax only certain buyers?
Wait, just saw this!
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-04/vancouver-housing-tax-pushes-chinese-to-1-million-seattle-homes
Cool story, @arabrab! Sarah and Becky are my kitchen budz. Love their kitchen. So chic.
Your buyer’s former house had too many rooms covered in diagonal floor tile!
Dragonmom… no shytez.
I bet our realtor knows those properties!!!
CB, I cannot believe that we have been here for a year! Wow, time does fly. Congrats on a fabulous, fabulous project. Well done, you are a Gold Star flipper - beautifying SD by exterminating RE blight one dilapidated house at a time.
CB, thanks for the story of the selling experience.
Based on previous sleuthing, I had guessed it was the pediatrician.
It’s so disappointing that airplane noise was a strong deterrent for many buyers, especially since that wasn’t an issue when you purchased the property. It seemed as though the plane paths changed right around the time you listed. GRRR!
I admire how calm you stayed throughout the process now that we know how few offers were really coming in.
On December 16th (post 5318) you told us the next day would be a great day. I believe you were expecting multiple offers that day. One of those was to be from a couple who were closing on a house they needed to sell.
Can you tell us what happened to those offers? And what happened to the couple whose house was supposed to sell? It sounded so promising at the time, and then…nothing. I felt bad for you at the time, but you continued to sound optimistic, so that helped calm the nerves.
First there was the guy in a divorce who wanted to Lease to Own. Then we were told he was going to find a way to buy the house. His agent kept calling to see if we had an offer, but she finally admitted that he wasn’t going to be able to buy the house.
The Tesla couple were the ones who were going to quickly sell their house. Their realtor brought in a ‘sure thing’ buyer for their house and they all negotiated over the weekend. Her buyers that she brought in decided they wanted to get estimates for all the work they wanted to do to the house. The agent kept calling us frantically wanting to know if we had an offer. But, then her buyers just dragged their feet on getting estimates and making a full commitment to the house. They were in no hurry. We realized after two weeks that those buyers were slipping away. They couldn’t submit a written offer on our house without a written commitment on their house.
The extended family that loved the house. Parents moving from Houston, currently living in a small apartment in Coronado, to help out their daughter who had a small baby with special needs whose husband had just passed away from leukemia. It was a sad story and I really wanted them to live in the house because it was perfect for extended family with the separated bedrooms. They were the ones that came at 6:30am and backed out because of airplane noise.
These were the offers I was expecting around Dec 16th.
Then there were the empty nesters who had an offer in for a property in Rancho Santa Fe who had found a lot of issues in the inspection. Evidently they were able to negotiate a lower price with their seller so they stayed in that escrow.
Then there was an Italian couple with a toddler who came for 2 showings and finally backed out because it was a bad foggy day and there was airplane noise.
Then there were the two agents who madly brought in clients after we went pending. They both said they wanted to submit backup offers, but they never came in.
Yes, twol CCers did their sleuthing and sent PMs that they guessed it was the pediatrician that was making the offer.
Wow, that was a lot of duds! just kidding. You only needed one good offer. I am sure your buyer will enjoy the place.
Here is one gorgeous view house in my general neck of the woods… Droolworthy.
9
2
5
2
SE 46th street
Mercer
Island
So. Many. Windows. So cool!