Wednesday, June 25, 2008

My Sweet Deal sans Toilet

While I don’t think anyone else would, I love this place. It is in one of my highly desirable locations in the shade of the redwoods and is super-cheap by any comp standards, but it lacks a few things – like a bathroom. Since my real estate agent no longer responds to my email, I was pleased to note that the lockbox was nothing more than a ruse this evening. A basement door allowed accidental entry – and I found a lot of potential extra space I wouldn’t have imagined in the bottom floor. Of course, a decent foundation might be needed, but it’s a sweet f-ing deal. Once I crawled up from the basement and let my BF in, he wasn’t all that impressed and seemed more concerned with not falling through the floorboards. Tried to remind him of local Zestimates and such to no avail…




songs you already know: scared from Posalootly on Vimeo
eating your beans
a video (and cover) of "scared of something" by Caroline!

9 comments:

Casey Serin said...

M U R S T !

Ogg the Caveman said...

There's something to be said for not falling through floors. Personally I think you should wait for Casey to fix and flip it first -- just make sure he doesn't put in any stainless granite.

Akubi said...

Edgar reminded me of this groovy song I posted at 6 Degrees last year.

Anonymous said...

Hey akubi, Is this for real? Is it a done deal for you? If so, congrats! I am still looking for my diamond in the rough. I am willing to pay bottom $ too.

Akubi said...

Hi Edgar,
No, it’s not a done deal. I love the location and think it has a lot of potential, but I’m concerned about how much it will cost just to make it habitable. If there wasn’t such a glut of unsold condo inventory on the market these days it wouldn’t concern me as much, but two mortgage payments and at least another 100K in construction is a bit overwhelming - especially if I use a HELOC to pay for construction costs. Of course, I could always rent my condo, but it’s a lot to juggle. Nonetheless, this really is the sort of cheap “diamond in the rough" I’ve been looking for though. I just wish the market wasn’t so screwed up. Failed fix and flip foreclosures have destroyed prices in my condo complex. One of those units is currently listed for less than the price paid in 2000 and couple hundred thousand less than it was sold for in 2006!

Casey Serin said...

One of those units is currently listed for less than the price paid in 2000 and couple hundred thousand less than it was sold for in 2006!

Time for me to swoop in and buy the unit with more fraudulent shenanigans!! We'll be neighbors, Akubi-Dooby-Doo! Best buds for life, I tells ya... ;-)

Anonymous said...

KC,
You really suck at life.

NotAnOptimist said...

If a bathroom is all that's missing (although it sounds like that might not be the case), you shouldn't need 100K. Bathrooms in the city (SF) go for around 20K (my parents added a bathroom a few years back and my old church added one recently for about that amount). If, on the other hand, you'll need to completely refit the place, then yeah, 100K sounds like a possibility.

Akubi said...

@NotAnOptimist,
To make it habitable, I think a bathroom is probably all that is needed. Note that the bathroom needs to be *entirely rebuilt* including the walls. The wood in the corner of the photo is blocking access from the outside. There’s a lot of dry rot throughout the house that will eventually need to be dealt with and the circa 1910 foundation needs to be addressed. Besides the bathroom, I could easily see sinking at least 80K into basic structural issues before even thinking about stainless and granite countertops ;).