Yesterday I had a meeting with the owners. Her parents were there helping to build out some cabinets we are putting into the living room to expand storage for the house. We all spent a lot of time in the garage designing the laundry room because that is going to be our next big project. Unfortunately, we have to pull out the water heater in order to build the laundry room. This is going to require 4-5 days that they will be without hot water or a washer/dryer.
Let me just tell you that I don’t think I will ever do a remodel while people are trying to live in the house. It makes it very difficult for us because of the stress of trying to get things back in place so that they can continue to have water/heat/hot water. We are not used to it. Also, we have never tried to work in a situation where we don’t have a storage place for tools and materials. We have wasted hours moving things around inside the house to get work done. Right now we have everything moved into the back bedroom because we still need to keep plumbing, gas, carpentry and tile tools to finish the laundry room. Eventually we will have to go through everything and try to guess what we don’t need anymore and get that transferred back to my garage.
We spent a lot of time reviewing the budget and trying to make decisions on what the crew should complete and what they can do themselves to save money. We all know how you think you will finish up something yourself and it never happens and you live with it for years and years. For example, we are not going to build a railing on the deck or a cover over the deck to save money. I can guarantee (based on the history of maintenance on this house) that, 5 years from now, they still won’t have a railing or deck cover. Also, they keep saying they will build the fireplace surround themselves but I know it will be a gaping hole in the family room for a long time. Especially because the exposed brick work is poorly done and not level at all. Bricks sticking out from other bricks. Will not be easy to figure out how to level it all and attach a surround or tile.
After we were done, the Dad gave a speech to the daughter and her husband. He really wants to loan them the money to get key things completed. He insisted that he was more than happy to loan them money “It’s all going to be yours someday anyway” on any terms they want. The really heartwarming part of his speech was that he emphasized that they probably will never get a chance to have my crew and my design expertise back at their house again. Our services are ‘priceless’ (in his words) because they do not understand how hard it is to find a contractor who will also work with them to keep costs down and design things in a brainstorming/cooperative manner or even show up when promised. He gave several examples of how we worked together on their home that I helped remodel for sale. I didn’t know this but they had gathered several bids from contractors before my agent connected them with me and I got talked into that job.
He wants to make sure that they have a house they love and they are happy with everything.
We are doing some work on the house (not us, the contractors), and even though it is a sprawling mansion compared to the house #6, I do not intend to fully move our stuff in until we are done with the big stuff (siding and windows and floor repair).
You have done an amazing job and I’m glad you will not work while folks live in the home again. It’s too tough for you and your crew and SO much extra time and work!
Noone said anything about fireplace hearth looking bad , thank goodness.
Funny you should mention the grandma cracker box on Tivoli in post above. I went through it this morning and going back with my carpenter this evening to inspect thoroughly.
Mold on walls, everything has to be gutted. Tons of crap in back yard including a weird above ground pool (very strange for this neighborhood) full of green water that needs to be drained and hauled away. I’m probably going to make an offer on it.
The house on Bangor has been for sale for over a year. It is a competitor that built a McMansion but the kitchen design is really bad. They started at 2 mil and kept going down. Took it off market and came back out at the super low price. Confidential remarks say “No offers below asking. Multiple offers expected”. They are trying to drum up a bidding war. Even with that I doubt it will sell for more than 1.05mil
I haven’t been inside Bangor property so I cannot figure out what is wrong with it
Btw…have tried to call Santa Barbara listing agent 5 days now. Still no return call or text
cb, can you tell the Santa Barbara listing agent that you’re pulling your offer? As you mentioned, you don’t want to have that offer outstanding while you’re bidding on something else.
What’s wrong with the kitchen design in the house on Bangor? I’ve studied the photos; it looks OK.
^ I would imagine that cb’s offer technically expired days ago. It can be trivially resurrected of course, but at this moment I don’t think she is on the hook for anything.
The Tivoli house looks like a great flip for CB, if the price can be right. I wonder why their backyard is full of large container plants that look as if they are to be planted somewhere? When I look at the house, my red flag is those two large trees that appear to be in a position to heave the house out of the ground with their roots. Is that a large crack I see in the facade? They are rather magnificent from a bit of a distance. Too bad they aren’t planted farther from the house.
The other house looks like a good flip. Better than many. Perhaps if they had priced it more realistically to start…
I don’t think that the size and design of the island is ideal, but it’s not horrible. I don’t like the backsplash, but again, one could live with it.
I kind of pushed for the fireplace surround and I think it will get done. She really wants attached laundry room and she wants to get that done before they run out of money
Just went through Tivoli. Trees in front have to be torn out. There is a bedroom next to the trees and entire front wall of bedroom is covered in mold and flooring and trim are full of termites.
Layout has to be blown open. My carpenter went onto roof and there’s really no hope for a good view so I need to be conservative about future price potential. Will only be able to add about 500 sq ft to avoid huge fees and permit issues
Garage probably cannot be salvaged…too much termite damage so new garage has to be built
I kind of agree with @HImom. Are you sure this is where you want to put your efforts? I understand there are not many good options right now but this doesn’t sound like a sure winner. (Of course if it were, someone else would have already snatched it up.)
I am going to pass on the Tivoli property. I have done a lot of review of the comparable sales. Without a potential for huge view the house will not sell at a high number. And… I honestly refuse to pay the $1,000/sq ft that the property is selling for. To pay that amount I would be in the same boat as the other flippers in the area. Scrape the whole house, leaving 50% of the original walls intact to avoid Coastal Commission requirement, and build something huge and try to sell it at $2.5 million. Too many other guys are doing that in that hot pocket neighborhood. I don’t need to be another investor trying to play that game.
I sent an email and voice mail to the other listing agent requesting another inspection yesterday. He finally got back to me after the appointment request time and we scheduled a detailed inspection on Wednesday evening. My gut tells me that this might be the right one because it will command good ocean views (which I feel is important to try to get a high asking price in the future). If I can get into the garage (which is bolted shut and noone has the keys) I should be able to tell whether I can add an interior staircase from garage to main floor. This would be critical to make it a desireable property. My agent is really excited about this one so I am going to keep pushing.