Our first house was almost literally a shack. But it was a shack on a nice lot in New Canaan, CT. With huge help from my father, we reconstructed about half of it.
COMPARABLE SALES
When trying to decide what to offer for this property and what the potential future sale could be, these are the comparable sales that I analyzed. I focused on homes that had at least 4 bedrooms because that is my future target market. We will continue to watch the market as we go along.
1653 Froude 92107 4/2.5 2575 sq ft. Good condition, recent remodel (not brand new remodel), good views, medium size lot and slightly inferior location. Sellers got themselves in a little bit of a pickle because they refinanced to $1,000,000 back in 2006. I’m guessing that is when the addition/remodel happened. Took 8 months to sell to go pending at $1,425,000 on 12/7/2015 and it still has not closed escrow. Not good… 8 months
1653 Chatsworth 92107 4/3.5 2321sq ft. Excellent new remodel, some bay views from upper deck, large lot, busy street, inferior location. 4 months to go into escrow. Sold $1,470,000
1284 Devonshire 92107 4/4 2954 sq ft newly remodeled, beautiful. Minimal/no views. Superior location, smaller lot. Sold in 3 months $1,500,000
941 Cornish 92107 4/2 2249sf sold in 21 days $1,495,000 asking price. Not really a comparable because it is a far superior location in Sunset Cliffs
3908 La Cresta 92107 4/3.5 2218sq ft. Inferior location, smaller lot, no view, newly remodeled flip with nice outdoor living areas. Pending in 21 days for about $1,050,000 (flipped from $830k purchase by one of the key competitors in Pt Loma area)
1716 Warrington 92107 4/2 1995sq ft. Inferior location, inferior view (easterly hills), above avg condition, really nice back patio, smaller lot. Sold $1,100,000 in 14 days. This shows what a huge variance there is between subjective view value.
1763 Santa Barbara 92107 4/2.5 2418sq ft. On a busier street, very close to subject property, original condition, minimal view from upstairs master only. Small lot. Went pending in 8 days $1,070,000. I think it might sell for higher than asking.
So, values all over the map. Hoping mine sells faster than the first 3 ones did
cb, you’re still several months away from getting this thing on the market. A lot can happen between now and then --both good and bad.
But I, for one, am rubbing my hands together over the possibility of your getting upwards of $1.3 million for this one!!
MORE COMPARABLE SALES
The comparable sales listed above are for anything 4 bdrm in last 6 months. This doesn’t really represent the best analysis for the upcoming project. When I was originally analyzing the property, I found the following sales that truly represent the potential, even though they are not exactly the same or sold longer than 6 months ago.
4344 Newport 4/3.5 2500sq ft with granny flat over 3 car garage and outdoor living room. Smaller lot, some views, excellent remodel with character, outdoor living area Sold $1,325,000 in 3 days
4557 Santa Cruz 4/3 2269 sq ft with huge upper deck and outstanding views. New construction (scrape and new build) by a competitor. Sold in 4 days $1,470,000
4504 Niagara 4/3 2966 sq ft much smaller lot, rooftop deck with views with scary spiral staircase outside to deck, new remodel with addition. Only 1 car garage Sold 30 days $1,300,000
4585 Del Monte 4/3.5 3000 sq ft. much smaller lot, slightly less desireable location, views, not brand new condition, but newer condition. 3 car garage (2 different garages) Sold in 3 days $1,300,000
I’m only sharing all this so you can know the amount of analysis that goes into trying to determine what to offer on the property. What I do know from the analysis is that 3 car garage and large outdoor living space with views sell the homes.
any idea what total size, i.e.- sq ft- you are thinking you can build? Or are allowed to build?
And do the sq ft totals in the above comparable sales include the garages?
[I’m assuming not since a 3 car garage takes up at least a 600 sq ft. ]
2500 - 600= 1900sq ft -which is hard to envision with a 4/3 floor plan.
The square feet is only liveable space, so the square feet in houses listed above don’t include the garages our outdoor living areas. Ideally, I would only add 499 sq ft because there is a large additional ‘fee’ if you add more than 500 square feet with a permit. However, that would only get me to about 2160 square feet, so I think I need to add at least 700 square feet just so that buyers will feel they are getting close to a 2500 sq ft house. The agents tell me I need to be 4 bedroom / 3 1/2 baths and close to 2500 square feet. If I add a 3 car garage to back and just add 2nd story on that, there would be 600 sq ft right there. But I don’t think the angle of the 2nd story above the garage would be ideal for capturing the views.
Adding the 3 car garage does not count towards square footage calculation for the additional school district fee but also doesn’t add anything for ‘livable space’ on a sales listing.
understood. glad that the garage does not “count” toward total allowable sq ft.
I do agree that you need to get much closer to the 2500 sq ft size for a 4/3 floor plan in order to have the best chance of a quick sale.
“even though they are not exactly the same or sold longer than 6 months ago.”
when DID the above sales happen?
knowing when the sales happened could also be an important factor… or not.
Sorry, forgot to clarify that the sales in 2nd list occurred during late 2013 to first part of 2015. These were the years starting the upswing in area.
Drove by the new project late this afternoon and brother’s car is still in driveway. The dumpster was gone on Tuesday.
Tomorrow is the plane flight so we will see what happens.
Ooh. It must be tempting to tie cans to the back of his car ;). Off on his forever “honeymoon”
I’ve looked at Google maps and aerial views - very interesting platting. The McMansion next door is on a tiny, tiny lot - was it portioned out from one of the surrounding lots? Also, wondering about the path to the front door - you can’t park by the path and the mailbox isn’t there, so what’s the point? The house across the cul-de-sac has a path/stairs from the cul-de-sac to the house, rather than from above. You’ve got a lot of potential here and I can’t wait to read about what you do!
There is a beautiful grey/yellow newer remodel across the bottom cul de sac that is just gorgeous. I think the address is etnom led 5254 (in our secret code).
It has character, has wonderful view decks and didn’t become a McMansion. But I noticed something interesting the other day. When I was waiting to me the wayward concrete guy, an older woman pulled into cul de sac and went to her mailbox to retrieve the daily mail. Geez, I would never want to have to ‘drive’ down below to the mail box to get the mail. I realize that might be common in rural areas, but it just is not done here in San Diego. It would be a possible deal killer for a sale (if a buyer realized it before they signed a contract)
Also, the actual lot line for this property does not hit the paved area of the cul de sac. It lies between the paved end of the cul de sac below and the paved end of the road above. So, I don’t think it makes sense to try to build some stairs from down below… visitors would have to trek over about 4 to 8 feet of City dirt to get to bottom of property.
Believe it or not, the secret path entrance is going to be a selling point for this house. Unusual amount of privacy. I am planning on building a 6 ft fence and gate along eastern edge of property so that you cannot see the house or front yard from the lookout parking above. Right now, anyone parked up there can see the front of the property. It gives the illusion that the front of the house doesn’t have any privacy. But in reality, most houses here don’t have any privacy (unless they build a tall front fence) because they are all on the street. Anyone can stand outside on a sidewalk and look into your house. There are some houses that are positioned high off the street and those lots bring a premium.
There is lots of parking out on Guizot for visitors. Park on the upper street Guizot and come down the easement path. The owners have a huge driveway and garage in back on the alley for easy access.
If I am understading the code correctly, is there a studio for sale down the street at 4873?
Regarding the lot size of the McMansion. The original parcel lots from the late 1800s in this neighborhood were very small skinny lots. McMansion is one of the original skinny lots which would be illegal now to try to develop. I believe the lot is less than 5,000 sq ft. There are only a few of the original skinny lots.
The property I am purchasing has a legal description for 3 of the original lots in the recorded map. The Sellers kept thinking that they owned 3 legal lots and the land was extremely valuable. However, they would never be allowed to subdivide back to he original lot. It took a while for the agents to try to explain to the sisters. In 1989 the City of San Diego merged the 3 lots on this property into one parcel for 3 reasons. Lots were owned by same owner, individual lots were under 5,000 sq ft so were not buildable and there was a primary residence built and existing that crossed all 3 lots. So, the 3 1800s lots were merged into one lot on the books.
I see a 2 bd apartment conversion down near beach that is for sale $419k but I don’t see 4873 on same street for sale right now
So since you’re waiting on getting into the houee, coralbrook – care to weigh in on my wall oven choices? I have an ancient 27" electric wall oven/microwave combination. The oven has died. Unrepairable. (And, at 27 years old, not unreasonably so.) The cabinet cannot accommodate a 30" oven.
I would like to move to a dual oven – I have a countertop microwave that works great for the little I use it.
Thoughts on brands and lines? GE seems to have several. All my other appliances are stainless – Bosch dishwasher, Dacor 5 burner cooktop, Kenmore elite french door fridge (literally the only 3 door fridge that would fit) – so I’m not picky about brands. I do want it to work, and to work well.
And, when I went browsing at my local appliance store, the guy made noises about how the electric might need to be moved. The current 220 plug is behind a drawer below the oven. Are new cords shorter?
Comments from anyone else are also appreciated.
arabrab, I wish Mr. B could give you a free oven-install consultation. 
We fit 2 30 inch ovens and a warming drawer into the space previously occupied by a 27 inch dual oven and moved all the electrical thingies as well
Did the guy who made noises about the outlet give you any reasoning other than “shorter cords”?
the outlet may have to be moved based on the instillation instructions for the ovens.
we had to move ours- its not a big deal as long as the whole cabinet is accessible when the old ovens come out. but before you buy you should download the instillation instructions/ specs and discuss them with your builder or appliance installer. what is the exterior width of the cabinet?
In my opinion you should not have to move the electrical outlet. I am assuming it is behind a drawer directly underneath the current oven. This is a standard location and should not cause a problem. If you are planning to install two separate units, there might be a problem with the upper unit plugging into the outlet at the bottom of the wall, but the upper unit is usually standard juice and does not require 220.
Worst case, you pray that the internal wiring to the existing 220 outlet is coming from top of wall, and not from bottom of wall. If coming from bottom of wall, there might not be enough slack to raise the outlet higher in the wall. It is not a big deal to open up wall and raise/lower an outlet. Because this area of the wall is hidden, you can just replace the drywall hole with a repair and ‘tape’ the cuts. No mudding, sanding, texturing, painting required.
I would start by measuring the Outside of the cabinetry that is currently holding the 27" ovens. Then take out the bottom drawer under current ovens and reach way back and measure the maximum inside the wood sides. You might get lucky and discover that the cabinet walls can squeeze in larger ovens and there are just some trim faces on outside that are trimming in the 27" ovens.
My advice is to see if you have a Sears Outlet center anywhere near you. Start by seeing what they have in stock there.
cb, IIRC you can get into the house on Monday, right?