<p>I’d bring your client with ID card to HD, too, when you go to the contractor’s desk.</p>
<p>For the online orders you have to pay online before they will process the order. I’ve made it clear for the emergency runs I’m not going to bother. But for large orders we’ll try. The bummer is then I will have to walk through whole store pulling everything myself with her. I really don’t want to try to explain why I picked out the box of nails that is 25 cents more than the other type. And Man I can move fast through HD, like busy Moms can move fast through a grocery store. I have every aisle memorized:)</p>
<p>^^ I found HD is pretty sneaky on their pricing, they may have the most extensive selection of materials, but you can get stuff much cheaper some times even next door. In my area, there is Big Lot next to HD, if you need caulking, just walk over next door and you can get caulking about half price. I normally buy it by the case, so for a short walk you can save about $30. Nails, you can get it cheaper in other places too.</p>
<p>You cannot beat HD on their lumber and wall boards, that is where ppl get hooked for HD and when they get you in, you just cannot afford to go elsewhere to buy other materials.</p>
<p>However, it may not be your best interest to shop around because time is money and you need every thing in one place so you do not waste time.</p>
<p>Thanks for the tip, I really haven’t bothered to shop around beyond Lowes or HD, except on big ticket items. I had no idea that Big Lots has caulk. Who would’ve guessed that? I’ve never been in a Big Lots. I did have to make some emergency runs to the local Mom Pop hardware store recently and discovered that their ABS fittings were less money, which I thought was very interesting. Of course, it is a limited selection.</p>
<p>I thought I posted earlier about GFCI breakers, which I ordered 20 of them for my service entry. It saved me a LOT of money, if you buy from HD they are about $30 each for the 20 amp (Murrey). I bought on ebay and I paid less than $10 each. The other problem I had was two of the HD breakers malfunctioned and it took my man 2 hours to figure out, who can imaging a new breaker will malfunction? I had to struggle to return them to HD as well, because once the breaker is used, it is not returnable.</p>
<p>Also, if you buy large quantity of PVC, ABS pipes and fittings or Electrical wires and switches, it will be cheaper order from wholesalers. HD has good price for 14/2 wires, that is their lost leader, once you are in, they screw you on all the other stuff. Speaking of PVC fittings, HD did not have the ones I need for my new swimming pool filters, I had to go to local true value for them.</p>
<p>For small potato like me, I do not have the room to store stuff and do not have the volume to buy enough material to get the low price from wholesale, I have to buy from HD. Even that, once in a while I shopped around and found amazing savings.</p>
<p>coralbrook - excited to hear about your second job! Curious as to what part of San Diego it is in. Since you said coastal I wonder if it is near me.</p>
<p>New project is in northern part of Pacific Beach. Luckily its not too far from North Park since I will be driving between the two several times a day:)</p>
<p>I order a lot of electrical from WestsideWholesale on the Internet. Have never gotten organized enough to pre order the massive amount of piecesand parts for plumbing.</p>
<p>See on the plumbing stuff, you need work like a plumber. That is why the plumber drives a large truck around with all sorts of materials, because you never know what do you need. To put in an Earthquake Shutoff valve on the Gas meter, we had to buy 10 different nipples to make sure all sizes are covered. There is no way you can pre-order before you open it up. So, we just buy every thing and return what we did not use. Mail order is out of question, unless you do that for a living.</p>
<p>Agree,
I went through Home Depot and just bought 10 or 20 of everything - and I still had to make 3 emergency runs to the local hardware store the first day. I now have mounds of ABS fittings lying all over the place. I cannot get it through their heads to Please gather up what you don’t need anymore so I can return it.</p>
<p>I found they sell a 15 year old U-Haul Van for very little money, maybe $1000. I am attempting to buy one and load the truck with hardware, tools, painting, plumbing and electrical. If I buy 100 of everything and have no privilege to return you pay maybe 30% of what HD is selling. That is how to keep the cost down.</p>
<p>I will buy lumber, doors and windows from HD, nevertheless.</p>
<p>I had to install recessed lighting in my first floor unit, because the ceiling is only 6’8", illegal now a days, but I got it grandfathered in. So after I bought those Halo recess light housing for about $20, I found HD charges $10 or more for the trims(Halo 310).That pixxed me off because I had to put up 16 trims! I ended up buying the same thing on ebay for $1 each. </p>
<p>I still find some auction houses are very well worth buying. A house in San Jose sold for 530K+5% is worth almost 780. It is occupied, though.</p>
<p>Unlike auction.com, this auction site post the final bids.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.homesearch.com/Browse?fulltextquery=California&page=15”>https://www.homesearch.com/Browse?fulltextquery=California&page=15</a></p>
<p>Oh - those built-ins are lovely! This should be a very nice project. Good luck, CB!</p>
<p>BIG NEWS #2 My Job is finally glamorous!</p>
<p>I have been very careful not to let this cat out of the bag. But, as of 9pm tonight I am signed, sealed, delivered, in contract and SOLD!! Can you believe it??? </p>
<p>This all started on Day 5 of the project. When I arrived to the project on Monday morning there was a woman standing on the sidewalk waiting for me. She is from Pennsylvania and is house sitting 3 doors down the street. She has been actively trying to buy in the neighborhood for over 3 years so she can permanently move here. One of the neighbors had told her “Gee, did you know Helen moved out and there is a woman in there renovating and she’s going to sell it”. </p>
<p>I walked her through the house on Monday and told her all the things I was planning to do. I told her that if she was interested she should call my agent. Within a half an hour my agent got a phone call from her saying she wanted to buy the house. She has an agent that she has been working with. He also called my agent within one hour and said he would back out to save the Seller money if it would make the deal. We insisted that he needed to stay involved and receive a commission because the woman needs to be represented and this is going to be a very complex escrow (based on our experience doing this twice before).</p>
<p>On Tuesday we had a three hour meeting and wrote a long list of everything to be included in the project. She wants to make the house her ‘dream’ and she wanted several changes. But the best part of it all…. She does not want to be pressured to make quick decisions on a lot of things. She wants to move in and decide how she wants things. She removed a huge chunk of work off my plate. She doesn’t want any landscape front or back, no work required in the back concrete wasteland, no conversion of garage to office/studio, no half bath in garage, no light fixtures (we are just going to hang light bulbs), she is buying appliances and on and on and on. The only things that need to get done are infrastructure, kitchen , bath and anything that a bank appraiser needs to see when he/she comes to do the inspection.</p>
<p>Wednesday we both spent hours finalizing our lists</p>
<p>CONTINUED</p>
<p>Thursday we had another three hour meeting and went through every detail in the house. We made some final tweaks based on some suggestions I made that she liked. She and I are really on the same page on the way we want this house to be done. After another three hours at the table in the middle of the demolished living room she started crying because she was so happy that she was going to get the house finished exactly how she wanted. She has been frustrated with the cookie-cutter flips on the market.</p>
<p>Then I had to crunch my numbers and come up with the final asking price.</p>
<p>I was really worried that I was missing a chance to ‘test the market’. A new listing in a slightly less desireable area of this neighborhood, but same house size and lot size, sold in 3 hours on market this week. So, to make sure I didn’t shoot myself in the foot I started on Tuesday with an asking price of $575,000 ($15k over what I had originally estimated). After our final list she took about $15k of the material and labor costs out of my original project. So, I came back last night with $560,000 asking price. She didn’t flinch a bit, ‘where do I sign?’. </p>
<p>I almost walked away this afternoon. I had told her that it would be in her best interest to bring an inspector over to inspect the house. Unfortunately she is leaving back to Pennsylvania early Saturday morning and she showed up at the house with a General Contractor. Well, that guy proceeded to point out everything that needs permits, fireplace is unlined and unusable and then blah blah blah (we had new wire hanging from the ceiling, etc). He was literally scaring everyone to death. He started telling me that I needed permits. I put on my Big Boy Pants and said “Everything you discussed was thoroughly disclosed to Cynthia during our meetings and is in writing. If these things are serious concerns then we probably should not go into contract. I am not a licensed contractor building a spec house”</p>
<p>After they left I realized that he was going to go outside and tell her she should not buy the house. Oh Boy, I should have just rolled over. But two hours later she called her agent and said that she wants the house, it is the right house for her and we need to draw up the documents. </p>
<p>CONTINUED</p>
<p>This contract is very complex because I made it clear that I was assuming the majority of the risk. I am installing finishes to her taste and it is not what the wide market is looking for. If she cancels the contract I am stuck with a house that might have a limited buyer market. Our contract is structured exactly as I dictated (cannot believe I got so lucky). </p>
<p>• Reduced commission to agents – total 4%
• Large initial deposit.
• Buyer has 21 days to get their loan approved – the only contingency in the contract.<br>
• No appraisal contingency, no inspection contingency
• 50% down so it should be an easy loan.
• After the loan contingency removal in 21 days, additional deposit into escrow
• Deposit becomes completely non-refundable. Buyer has signed a document instructing escrow to release the deposit immediately if a Cancellation is executed by the Buyer and accepted by Seller
• Close of escrow 10 business days from appraisal inspection
• Seller sets date for appraisal inspection (this is our moving target because I cannot schedule the appraiser until all work is complete)
• Seller’s Escrow Company and Seller’s Title Company
• Buyer accepts National Hazard Disclosure from my prior transaction (saves me $100)
• Termite clearance for buyer</p>
<p>What are my advantages?</p>
<p>• Reduced material and labor cost
• Less risk of going into a money pit (like that last project!!!)
• Close escrow one to two months earlier (less carrying cost)
• Reduction in commission 1%</p>
<p>What are my disadvantages?
• Hate to admit this… losing the emotional satisfaction of making it the cutest house on the block. It will still just have a dirt yard in front
• Having to deal with a ‘client’ who may have different taste than I do and I just have to install what she wants
• Having to deal with a ‘client’ when trying to make fast economical decisions on the major purchases.<br>
• Slowing the project down while she makes the decisions – she is on a 2 week road trip back to Pennsylvania and I need to get windows (4 week lead time) and kitchen cabinets ordered (5 week lead time).<br>
• Possibly being stuck with a house I have to sell that didn’t get the changes needed for the wider market (conversion of garage into studio/office). But the released large deposit will offset that risk.</p>
<p>All I can say is Thank Goodness we got that toilet installed!!! I have spent many hours sitting on a folding chair in the living room in meetings and it would have been very embarrassing to say “I need to run down the street to go to Jack in the Box”</p>
<p>Artlover, I have never looked at the Homesearch site before. Thank you for the link. There are actually a couple of properties in my target area. When I have more time I am going to research a little further. I did notice that of the 4 sold, 3 of them ‘Reserve Not Met’. The only one where the reserve was met was in a very poor location.</p>
<p>First of all, Congrats. I wish I can be as lucky as you. Buying in hot area is always a good idea. Real estate is still location location and location. </p>
<p>I am glad you found some thing there in the homesearch site. Don’t worry about reserves not met. The end of auction is when the negotions start, some time the bank will sell at the hammer some times they want more money and you don’t have to agree. I have experiences in both, You just have to deal with it. </p>
<p>On the Homesearch site, are all the homes occupied? It’s not really spelled out, all they say is ‘Do Not Disturb Occupant’. Is there a way to find out if it is a tenant or homeowner? I’m very scared of buying a property that has a tenant with a long term lease. That is a big loser for me.</p>