<p>Congratulations! I look forward to following along on your adventure.</p>
<p>cb, that’s a very nice-looking house. </p>
<p>What work do you have to do to it before you sell it? You mentioned a full re-wire, and HVAC. I assume also you’ll update the kitchen and the bathrooms? From the outside, it looks fine to me, but what do I know!</p>
<p>General work required for this renovation includes:</p>
<p>Strip all paint on the original detailed windows and restore.
Fix the rope sashes in the windows and replace some of the side windows.
Patch some rotten wood in floors, sand and refinish.
Tear out broken concrete in back and clear out stuff in front.
Renovate little garage and turn it into a ‘studio’ and try to add half bath in studio.
Take down walls around kitchen and open up interior.
Open up a crawlspace (someone stuccoed over exterior crawlspace entry).
Replace galvanized pipe under house.
Tear out knob and tube wiring and re-wire house (existing panel is newer so it might be able to stay).
Figure out some way to install heating in the house - there is no attic because it is flat roof style.
Haven’t decided if I need to install AC in house.
New Kitchen.
Figure out way to reconfigure bathroom and new bathroom.
Do something really cute with front, possibly add new patio and wall.
Build outdoor living room type patio in back to extend the feeling of the living space (might require installing French doors in dining area for access to back yard).</p>
<p>And the hard part is going to be trying to find two or three bricks to match the original fireplace. There are two decorative bricks missing from the mantel area and these are original Spanish style brown bricks. I cannot change the mantel and hearth because buyers are paying a premium for the original California Mission style brick fireplaces. I’ll post a picture of the type of brickwork I’m talking about. I am going to have a really hard time trying to find a couple of bricks in an architectural salvage place to match the existing fireplace. </p>
<p>I think that this renovation will be closer to ‘Rehab Addict’ than ‘Flip This House’. I am going to work hard to restore original details and design the interior for the period.</p>
<p>^^ She was able to find the missing leg of an old cast iron tub from the salvage, I think you should be able to find those bricks.</p>
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<p>I hear permit issues all over this one. Also, if it’s not plumbed right now, isn’t that going to cost a fortune??</p>
<p>The hot water heater is inside the garage and I think the laundry is inside the garage (geez, what an idiot… I didn’t even check to see if there is laundry anywhere in this house). So there is plumbing available that can be run to a small bath. </p>
<p>As long as I don’t advertise the renovated garage as a ‘bedroom’ living space I should be fine without having to pull a permit. Believe me, this neighborhood is so old that there are plenty of crazy things going on in these houses. In the sales listing you just call it an ‘extra’ room not included in official square footage.</p>
<p>Back to the usual dilemma… pulling permits. The only work that I feel really needs to have a permit is the electrical rewire. But, I just cannot risk opening up the house to City inspections while all the other work is happening. </p>
<p>For example, if I move the kitchen sink location then technically I am supposed to get a permit to move some copper pipe two feet. Also, a new heating system is supposed to have another permit. The City should just be grateful that heating is going back into this house. Original furnace is still under house completely rusted out.</p>
<p>The prior owner put in a new exterior main panel (without permit I think). If I really want to stay out of trouble I could just say that the rewire happened when the prior owner put in the panel. My issue is not the quality of work, there is no question that the rewire will be done to code by a licensed electrician.</p>
<p>^^ In CA technically any renovation job over $500 requires a permit but who is looking?</p>
<p>I am looking at the MLS for a very small area in town and found two flippings in 2013.</p>
<p>First one bought at a Short Sale for 229k(listed 229K) and flipped 3 months later for 380K
Second one also is a short sale for 225K(listed 215K) and flipped 3 months later for 380K</p>
<p>The first house had done a great landscape job so it will cost more to renovate.</p>
<p>I suppose flipping is still very alive here, even in the Bay Area, the trick is to buy low and sell high.^^^^^</p>
<p>The reason I checked out that small area is that yesterday I went to see an “incomplete remodel” house and thought I should investigate the area. The house I was looking at did not have a backyard per se, since it is on a perhaps 30 grade downward slope. The listing called for a 2000 sf house but I estimated that only 1500 sf is usable and it is between two floors. The upper floor is at street level and has no garage, the lower floor is basically a basement, part of the first floor has a ceiling height of 72" which cannot call it legal and the stair case is very steep and with very low ceilings. All interior except three rooms have been stripped to the studs. The current owner had built out a study(could be called a bad room) and a mater suite for his own use, that leaves everything else in very awkward layout because you need a second bath for all the other rooms, it will be bad for a guest and other family member to go through Mater bedroom to use the Master bath… If I put another bath on the upper level, there will be no place to put a bedroom there. If I bought this I need to knock the master bath down to make it a bed room. So much waste!</p>
<p>I think I will pass on this.</p>
<p>You get more bees with honey! WOO HOO!</p>
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<p>Thank goodness. </p>
<p>Coralbrook, when do you close on the house? And when can you go back and look at it again?</p>
<p>Today, I inspected a MLS flipper and it is very close to that House #1 I made an offer already. That house is almost the same size as the house #1 and the house #1 is 100 sf bigger. They have converted the garage to a bedroom and a bathroom WITHOUT a permit! It was described in the MLS as such. Does not matter, the list price of $349k was accepted (Days on market 45) and the home is in Escrow. So, that is a way to sell without a permit in CA. This flipper was bought in Oct 2013 at a price of $235K… The construction material, it is all from Home Depot with the kitchen cabinets from the store I bought for the house I just about to close! I can see where the cabinets are from by looking at the handle and the hinges. </p>
<p>Now I have high hopes on my offer on house #1, I should perhaps up the price.</p>
<p>Artlover, if the house was on market for 45 days at that entry level price there is a likelihood that they accepted a lower offer. You will need to set asking price lower to get a quick sale. But you may have different strategies than I do. I want to sell within 2 weeks.</p>
<p>No. I meant the comp house I inspected is sold (pending) in 45 days. The house I am bidding is only on the market for few days. </p>
<p>Closed escrow in 45 or on the market for 45 before pending? </p>
<p>On market 45 before pending. If it is closed how can I inspect the property. </p>
<p>Just checking to make sure I understood correctly. My opinion would be to be conservative on what the final sale price will be for the similar house you inspected that is in escrow after lingering on the market for 45 days. In our market area if anything is for sale under $500k for longer than 15 days then it was priced too high. Still a lot of buyers in the lower ranges.</p>
<p>Yes I understand. But the area I am looking is not as high priced as you are at. Average per sf is around 250-350 depends on the size. Most of the house in that area is running between 350k to 650k. I chose that area because it is close to where I live and there are affordable opportunities for flipping. </p>
<p>coralbrook - congratulations! I am looking forward to following your journey with this house and seeing all the pictures. I know this area of town and love the little houses there. I can’t wait to see how this one turns out!</p>