This all sounds promising, cb. Something is going to happen soon.
We are still fumbling along trying to get the laundry room completed. We are at the mercy of drywall mud drying so we can sand and get the walls painted. Right now we finally have one coat of semi gloss on the walls and the floor tile is grouted. But, we are going to need a 2nd coat of paint before we can keep moving. Luckily the owners are so happy with hot water that they are OK with the delays. However, the brand new washer and dryer are sitting in the living room just tantalizing everyone. She is very excited about a new washer and dryer… more so than a dishwasher 
Finally installed the adorable dining table chandelier. For $100 it hits the spot with good drama in the room.
I loaded some photos
Amazing how reasonably-priced the chandelier was! Everything looks amazing! What a lucky couple!
Wow. What a great find! Fits the character of the house perfectly.
Here is a quick update on BB’s non-flip. Got a quote to replace the attic insulation, and the attic freeloaders are moving out on Monday. Fingers crossed we will be ready to move in June!
How much to get the attic free of visitors? How do they do it and are they going to be responsible to shore up all the holes, nooks and crannies that the critters are using for access??
I will fill you in on the details after I see them do it! The quote was $1450 plus the evil service tax. Apparently, they remove all of the insulation and check around the perimeter to make sure there are no holes for the stinkers to get in, then patch up the holes. Then they clean up the attic some more and fill it in with new insulation meeting the code. We could probably do it for less ourselves, but I looked at the nails sticking out of the roof (ugh, the stupid shakes) and said that it would be cheaper to pay a reputable service than risking a visit to the ER. Plus, they haul off all of the crap! And they will be done in one day!
I’m amazed that chandelier cost only $100. Looks fantastic.
Worth the cost for someone else to go up there with the masks and deal with the ‘cleaning’ portion of the job. Who knows what you would find up there!!!
The chandelier has real capiz shells but it was quite a lot of work to get the shells installed onto it. The shells are shown in the instructions as 4 on outside ring, 5 on middle ring and 6 on inside ring. I opened up all of the shell drops and they were all 5 long! This means I had to dismantle half of them and re configure with those dinky little cheap metal rings. A little bit of labor was involved with the original cost
LOL.
To illustrate the irrational RE exuberance and relisting games… This looks eerily similar to the house that was listed at $2.9M last fall then quickly got reduced to $2.5. I was looking at a more reasonably priced house nearby and got alarmed - wht has made the price drop so suddenly? A sinkhole from the freeway construction? A zoning change? Our realtor could not find anything that would justify such a price drop except a possible foreclosure. And now it is baaack in the MLS!
Good luck to the Chinese. The listing agent did not even bother to take new photos… There are NO leaves on those trees yet!! 
I will eat my hat if it sells for the full price (although I will have to look for hat recipes now just in case).
Interesting that that house is on under half an acre. There must be other places just out of the photo frames.
The owner of that house (or the agent) are falling into a trap hole. “We’ll just take it off the market and re list it when prices go up”. Well, with the Internet, everyone is going to know it was listed for $2.5 mil last year. From the photos, it is vacant and money is just pouring down the drain somewhere between mortgage, insurance and property taxes and maintenance.
They should try another trick such as having an auction with an artificially low opening bid.
LOL, cb! I bet they are counting on some Chinese buyers that are going to fall for it. The stucco on the house looks like that fake stucco… If it really is… Good luck to anyone who gets it. 
Today we are finishing the laundry room. I had a meeting with the young owners this weekend and had to look them in the eye and apologize profusely for my huge error in estimating the costs for the laundry room. First I started with $2,000. Then we found the extensive termite damage and their old water heater was on it’s last leg. When we tried to drain it and move it out of the area, it was so full of sludge and sediment it wouldn’t even drain. Took hours to get it drained. So… new water heater added to cost. What I didn’t estimate was the amount of brand new plumbing my carpenter was going to do for the new water heater.
After termite damage and water heater, I told them $4,000. Well, my new estimate is $5,500. Yikes!! way off
Luckily their answer was “Well, we know you are not trying to scam us, we can see the work involved” and “You were only way off in this one area. We are amazed at how the majority of the project stayed on budget” Well, it only stayed on budget because we saved about $8,000 from my original estimate for the kitchen and all of that money was used for infrastructure and other costs.
In general, labor costs are running 2/3 of the budget. Material costs are the least of our worries.
You’ve got credibility, cb. And they’re not blaming you for not being able to anticipate the problem with the water heater.
CB, you have wrought miracles with your tiny budget. I’m so glad the homeowners appreciate it and you!
I can’t imagine any reasonable person would respond otherwise. You’ve done an amazing job on a very tight budget.
The issue is that when I am doing my own project, I don’t have to explain my way out of why things are costing more than I had originally estimated. It adds a whole new layer of stress when it’s someone else’s money and I have to try to make wild guesses at cost before we open up the walls and see how much work is really involved.
So if you build a spec house and list it for $135 million (yes million), what is your profit margin?
Is the developer going to be ok if they take a $120 million bid from Queen Bey and Jay-Z?
https://pagesix.com/2017/04/24/beyonce-and-jay-z-put-in-120m-bid-for-sprawling-bel-air-mansion/
Inquiring minds want to know…
Being outbid twice, I really feel their pain!! 