Hesistant to dip my foot in

[Rich Toscano]

Hi sdgrrl – Sorry to be so late to the party here. I don’t have much to add to the many excellent comments in the thread. Here are a couple thoughts that jump out (which have been expressed by others, but fwiw I agree):

– The bait-n-switch low listing price is cheesy but while it might annoy me, it wouldn’t really change whether I want to buy the property or not. What matters is the price you can get it at, and whether it’s worth it to you.

– The “as is” thing could be a deal breaker, or a complete non-issue… that entirely depends on the state of the house. So I echo everyone’s advice to have someone inspect the hell out of the place, and only then will you be able to evaluate this aspect (and the accompanying super weird “afraid of their own shadow” comment). I’ll be curious to hear what they turn up. BTW if you don’t know a good inspector, I really liked the guy who did my house, and have recommended him to others with good results: http://www.masterspecs.info

Overall there’s some unusual aspects to it but nothing that would kill the deal for me personally — pending, of course, the findings of the home inspection.

With that said, bear in mind that I don’t have anything resembling expertise in individual real estate transactions. So, just my two cents, for what it’s worth.

The thing I have more of a handle on is the overall market and specifically valuations. There, not much has changed since last year’s update. The net of it is, homes are quite expensive (though not bubble expensive), but rates are so low that if you are financing the bulk of your purchase, it can still make sense to buy, because you are locking in a pretty reasonable monthly nut. However, that only really helps you if you intend to hang on to the home for a long time. If you have to sell reasonably soon, then the change in price will matter more than monthly payment, and with valuations at these levels, that doesn’t really seem like a good risk vs. reward.

So tell me a bit more about your “intentions” towards the home. Do you envision staying there long-term? If home prices were to decline 20% (not a prediction, but an entirely plausible possibility based on current valuations), would you be ok, or would that screw up your plans somehow? Even if you do want to stay there, is there a chance you’d be forced to move by job changes etc? All that might help determine whether it makes sense to buy in general — this place, or otherwise.

Keep us posted on the place… if you get that far, I’m interested to hear how the inspection goes (mostly bc of the somewhat ominous “afraid of their own shadow” comment), and whether you are able to find out why it fell out of escrow.

Rich

[bearishgurl]

sdgrrl, I agree with Rich about examining how long you want to actually own the property but for a different reason. If you guys are actually purchasing VA, the you could have a 100% loan. You say the sellers are refusing to pay any of your closing costs and your VA Funding Fee at 2% will be a hefty $7700 (if you pay $385K for the house). With your other closing costs and possible loan costs added to the funding fee, your closing costs could come to $12K or more which would mean that you will already “upside down” by ~$12K at the close of escrow (COE).

That’s not a good (financial) place to be in that area if you’re not planning on holding the property for at least 10 years, IMO. As you can see from the lower prices up there, Lakeside does not hold its value or appreciate at the same rates as closer-in (incorporated) communities in SD County do.

A few observations:

The 2011 “street view” pic reveals the following. There are no sidewalks or storm drains on this street (in an unincorporated area). The home is lower than the street. The crawlspace of this home could have been flooded multiple times in heavy rains over the years as there doesn’t appear to be any french drains installed in the front or side of the lot to drain off the backyard, which is lower still. The home and lot were likely in gross disrepair when the current seller/flipper purchased it. The June 2011 street view pic reveals a 20+ foot industrial-type trailer (as ucodegen mentioned) parked on the property in front of the house. A previous owner (before the flipper/seller) could have purchased it for almost nothing from DRMO or a local GSA auction.

http://www.governmentauctiondatabase.com/locations/CA/2489

I feel they may have acquired it to use to dispose of wild, overgrown landscaping and termite eaten and dry-rotted/moldy construction debris (due to previous flooding) as renting a “roll-on” can be prohibitively expensive. (The flipper/seller could have purchased the property with the trailer still there.) When the previous owner was gutting it and found the extent of the damage, they decided they didn’t (for whatever reason) want to put the money into it because in 2011/12, the market had literally gone to sh!t out there. They hung onto the property until they could unload it on a professional flipper in late 2015 and recover their money out of it (and likely more). The owner who sold to the flipper was likely a longtime owner or even an “heir” who very well may have borrowed money on it during the loose-lending era of the aughts. (Note: I have not viewed the public record chain-of-title on this property.)

The lot is essentially sloping down from the street to the house, with a third, lower tier as the backyard. The parcel may slope a little further downhill from the backyard but we can’t see it from the pics provided. The driveway in one place, in front of a window has an offset crack (we can’t tell exactly by how much). This nonetheless indicates soil movement because the concrete is so old that it is likely a tree was never growing there. The driveway was not repaired/replaced by the flipper/seller. There is another 1-2 feet of dirt between the driveway and a short retaining wall. The house is 1-2 feet lower than the retaining wall and was completely re-stuccoed, so we can’t tell if that crack (from moving soil over the years) has affected the short retaining wall (which could have been easily repaired) or penetrated the actual stemwall of the house.

In addition, its former roof (in 2011) was decrepit and probably leaked in one or more places. However the walls inside (possibly originally plaster) were likely replaced with drywall by the flipper.

If your offer is accepted and you open escrow, I would get a highly-qualified home inspector (or better yet, a civil engineer) out there pronto and go through the crawlspace with a high beam flashlight and a fine-toothed comb and whatever other meters/tools they use to look for dryrot in the subfloor and evidence of seepage (from cracks) and mold along the stemwalls.

A more expedient (and cheaper) way to get the info you need on whether to proceed with this transaction would be to insist on seeing any reports on that property paid for by previous buyer-principals who walked. You need to make this request immediately after your offer is accepted. And reject the reports promptly, if necessary, within your contingency period in order to get your earnest money back.

Good Luck and be mindful of your dates! I’m not sure properties in this particular area are for first-timers … especially those who are putting little money down and have low to moderate incomes and minor children to support (not saying that’s you, btw, sdgrrl).

[Coronita]

[quote=bearishgurl]sdgrrl, I agree with Rich about examining how long you want to actually own the property but for a different reason. If you guys are actually purchasing VA, the you could have a 100% loan. You say the sellers are refusing to pay any of your closing costs and your VA Funding Fee at 2% will be a hefty $7700 (if you pay $385K for the house). With your other closing costs and possible loan costs added to the funding fee, your closing costs could come to $12K or more which would mean that you will already “upside down” by ~$12K at the close of escrow (COE).

That’s not a good (financial) place to be in that area if you’re not planning on holding the property for at least 10 years, IMO. As you can see from the lower prices up there, Lakeside does not hold its value or appreciate at the same rates as closer-in (incorporated) communities in SD County do.

A few observations:

The 2011 “street view” pic reveals the following. There are no sidewalks or storm drains on this street (in an unincorporated area). The home is lower than the street. The crawlspace of this home could have been flooded multiple times in heavy rains over the years as there doesn’t appear to be any french drains installed in the front or side of the lot to drain off the backyard, which is lower still. The home and lot were likely in gross disrepair when the current seller/flipper purchased it. The June 2011 street view pic reveals a 20+ foot industrial-type trailer (as ucodegen mentioned) parked on the property in front of the house. A previous owner (before the flipper/seller) could have purchased it for almost nothing from DRMO or a local GSA auction.

http://www.governmentauctiondatabase.com/locations/CA/2489

I feel they may have acquired it to use to dispose of wild, overgrown landscaping and termite eaten and dry-rotted/moldy construction debris (due to previous flooding) as renting a “roll-on” can be prohibitively expensive. (The flipper/seller could have purchased the property with the trailer still there.) When the previous owner was gutting it and found the extent of the damage, they decided they didn’t (for whatever reason) want to put the money into it because in 2011/12, the market had literally gone to sh!t out there. They hung onto the property until they could unload it on a professional flipper in late 2015 and recover their money out of it (and likely more). The owner who sold to the flipper was likely a longtime owner or even an “heir” who very well may have borrowed money on it during the loose-lending era of the aughts. (Note: I have not viewed the public record chain-of-title on this property.)

The lot is essentially sloping down from the street to the house, with a third, lower tier as the backyard. The parcel may slope a little further downhill from the backyard but we can’t see it from the pics provided. The driveway in one place, in front of a window has an offset crack (we can’t tell exactly by how much). This nonetheless indicates soil movement because the concrete is so old that it is likely a tree was never growing there. The driveway was not repaired/replaced by the flipper/seller. There is another 1-2 feet of dirt between the driveway and a short retaining wall. The house is 1-2 feet lower than the retaining wall and was completely re-stuccoed, so we can’t tell if that crack (from moving soil over the years) has affected the short retaining wall (which could have been easily repaired) or penetrated the actual stemwall of the house.

In addition, its former roof (in 2011) was decrepit and probably leaked in one or more places. However the walls inside (possibly originally plaster) were likely replaced with drywall by the flipper.

If your offer is accepted and you open escrow, I would get a highly-qualified home inspector (or better yet, a civil engineer) out there pronto and go through the crawlspace with a high beam flashlight and a fine-toothed comb and whatever other meters/tools they use to look for dryrot in the subfloor and evidence of seepage (from cracks) and mold along the stemwalls.

A more expedient (and cheaper) way to get the info you need on whether to proceed with this transaction would be to insist on seeing any reports on that property paid for by previous buyer-principals who walked. You need to make this request immediately after your offer is accepted. And reject the reports promptly, if necessary, within your contingency period in order to get your earnest money back.

Good Luck and be mindful of your dates! I’m not sure properties in this particular area are for first-timers … especially those who are putting little money down and have low to moderate incomes and minor children to support (not saying that’s you, btw, sdgrrl).[/quote]

How the hell did you become an real estate expert (LETDLITA) in Lakeside and with this particular house simply by looking at a bunch pictures in an MLS listing???? Do you realize how ridiculous this is?????

Its like the last time you did this with the barrister(?) House in mira Mesa, in which your comments on that house, again , only based on the pictures you saw in an mls listing and from Google maps, was totally off too.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=flu][quote=bearishgurl]sdgrrl, I agree with Rich about examining how long you want to actually own the property but for a different reason. If you guys are actually purchasing VA, the you could have a 100% loan. You say the sellers are refusing to pay any of your closing costs and your VA Funding Fee at 2% will be a hefty $7700 (if you pay $385K for the house). With your other closing costs and possible loan costs added to the funding fee, your closing costs could come to $12K or more which would mean that you will already “upside down” by ~$12K at the close of escrow (COE).

That’s not a good (financial) place to be in that area if you’re not planning on holding the property for at least 10 years, IMO. As you can see from the lower prices up there, Lakeside does not hold its value or appreciate at the same rates as closer-in (incorporated) communities in SD County do.

A few observations:

The 2011 “street view” pic reveals the following. There are no sidewalks or storm drains on this street (in an unincorporated area). The home is lower than the street. The crawlspace of this home could have been flooded multiple times in heavy rains over the years as there doesn’t appear to be any french drains installed in the front or side of the lot to drain off the backyard, which is lower still. The home and lot were likely in gross disrepair when the current seller/flipper purchased it. The June 2011 street view pic reveals a 20+ foot industrial-type trailer (as ucodegen mentioned) parked on the property in front of the house. A previous owner (before the flipper/seller) could have purchased it for almost nothing from DRMO or a local GSA auction.

http://www.governmentauctiondatabase.com/locations/CA/2489

I feel they may have acquired it to use to dispose of wild, overgrown landscaping and termite eaten and dry-rotted/moldy construction debris (due to previous flooding) as renting a “roll-on” can be prohibitively expensive. (The flipper/seller could have purchased the property with the trailer still there.) When the previous owner was gutting it and found the extent of the damage, they decided they didn’t (for whatever reason) want to put the money into it because in 2011/12, the market had literally gone to sh!t out there. They hung onto the property until they could unload it on a professional flipper in late 2015 and recover their money out of it (and likely more). The owner who sold to the flipper was likely a longtime owner or even an “heir” who very well may have borrowed money on it during the loose-lending era of the aughts. (Note: I have not viewed the public record chain-of-title on this property.)

The lot is essentially sloping down from the street to the house, with a third, lower tier as the backyard. The parcel may slope a little further downhill from the backyard but we can’t see it from the pics provided. The driveway in one place, in front of a window has an offset crack (we can’t tell exactly by how much). This nonetheless indicates soil movement because the concrete is so old that it is likely a tree was never growing there. The driveway was not repaired/replaced by the flipper/seller. There is another 1-2 feet of dirt between the driveway and a short retaining wall. The house is 1-2 feet lower than the retaining wall and was completely re-stuccoed, so we can’t tell if that crack (from moving soil over the years) has affected the short retaining wall (which could have been easily repaired) or penetrated the actual stemwall of the house.

In addition, its former roof (in 2011) was decrepit and probably leaked in one or more places. However the walls inside (possibly originally plaster) were likely replaced with drywall by the flipper.

If your offer is accepted and you open escrow, I would get a highly-qualified home inspector (or better yet, a civil engineer) out there pronto and go through the crawlspace with a high beam flashlight and a fine-toothed comb and whatever other meters/tools they use to look for dryrot in the subfloor and evidence of seepage (from cracks) and mold along the stemwalls.

A more expedient (and cheaper) way to get the info you need on whether to proceed with this transaction would be to insist on seeing any reports on that property paid for by previous buyer-principals who walked. You need to make this request immediately after your offer is accepted. And reject the reports promptly, if necessary, within your contingency period in order to get your earnest money back.

Good Luck and be mindful of your dates! I’m not sure properties in this particular area are for first-timers … especially those who are putting little money down and have low to moderate incomes and minor children to support (not saying that’s you, btw, sdgrrl).[/quote]

How the hell did you become an real estate expert (LETDLITA) in Lakeside and with this particular house simply by looking at a bunch pictures in an MLS listing???? Do you realize how ridiculous this is?????

Its like the last time you did this with the barrister(?) House in mira Mesa, in which your comments on that house, again , only based on the pictures you saw in an mls listing and from Google maps, was totally off too.[/quote]Again, trolling. I KNOW this particular area of east county fairly well (Wintergardens). Since you’re obviously a LETDLITA yourself, why don’t you take a drive out there and investigate the street and listing yourself! Again, flu, you need to find someone else to “troll after.” My post was not directed at you.

[bearishgurl]

For whatever reason, flu, your animosity and bitterness (currently towards me) has been shining on high beam around here in recent weeks. I thinks its well past time that you block me so you aren’t bothered by my posts … especially during the business day when you are supposedly “working.” You’ve turned into the “Champion Thread Polluter” extraordinaire.

[Coronita]

[quote=bearishgurl]For whatever reason, flu, your animosity and bitterness (currently towards me) has been shining on high beam around here in recent weeks. I thinks its well past time that you block me so you aren’t bothered by my posts … especially during the business day when you are supposedly “working.”[/quote]

Its not animosity against you per say, its just not only are your comments not helpful they are negatively productive.its ridiculous, you keep posting about how you are an expert at this an expert at that, and every fucking thread on this website. When you know NOTHING.

And regarding my hours. I don’t have a hourly job like you do. So long as I get my work done by my deadline or more, no one cares. I don’t even need to work from the office. Its called being an exempt salaried employee with benefits , something you also probably know nothing about.

Instead.of trying to pretend to be an expert behind that keyboard, why don’t you actually go out their and actually try to buy a property and come back with something objective, like a list of pros and cons about a property. Its really easy to be completely negative and piss all over something because that doesn’t require any intelligence. But why don’t you challenge yourself to find a fixer upper that would work. I have yet to see one case of any mental exercise on your part to ever turn any house into an opportunity. All you do is piss all over the place so you don’t need to think, which probably explains why you missed the boat all the time.

[bearishgurl]

Unlike you, I don’t wish to be a landlord ever again. 8.5 years was wa-a-a-ay more than enough for me. I’m not interested in owning any investment properties. I personally do the have the expertise to rehab a single family home and flip it by myself. And I am not interested in owning in any real estate with “equity partners.” H@ll, no!

Why don’t you ask other Piggs why they haven’t invested in any properties if you “perceived” they were able to but “missed the boat.” Why me?

Glad to read you love managing, repairing/making replacements and re-filling your small investment condo(s) continuously with new tenants. I’m happy for you and hope you continue to love it 10-20 years from now and are never saddled with big HOA dues hikes and special assessments.

Good Luck to you, flu. What YOU perceive are great investments are NOT great investments for everyone.

[Coronita]

Just a sinole question BG. Have you seen the house in person to be commenting in excruciating details about that house?

Out of all the people who have commented on this thread, name one other person that spoke with authority about the specifics of this house. Answer: no one but you. Because no one besides the OP has seen this house. Do you really think your “astute” observations from looking at some pretty crappy mls pictures are better than the OP who’s physically seen that house? Really?

I mean, you don’t think perhaps this is ridiculous?

[Coronita]

[quote=bearishgurl]Unlike you, I don’t wish to be a landlord ever again. 8.5 years was wa-a-a-ay more than enough for me. I’m not interested in owning any investment properties. I personally do the have the expertise to rehab a single family home and flip it by myself. And I am not interested in owning in any real estate with “equity partners.” H@ll, no!

Why don’t you ask other Piggs why they haven’t invested in any properties if you “perceived” they were able to but “missed the boat.” Why me?

Glad to read you love managing, repairing/making replacements and re-filling your small investment condo(s) continuously with new tenants. I’m happy for you and hope you continue to love it 10-20 years from now and are never saddled with big HOA dues hikes and special assessments.

Good Luck to you, flu. What YOU perceive are great investments are NOT great investments for everyone.[/quote]

This has nothing to do with being a landlord. This has everything to do with making wild as guesses from a bunch of low res mls pictures and self proclaiming to be a subject matter expert. Would you quit redirecting this to something else? If you have no interest in being a landlord and no interest in real estate, then why the fuck are you still here commenting about real estate and houses and property and etc etc etc, with totally wrong, misleading, inaccurate statements?

I mean, for some that claims to have a life on a previous thread, it sure seems weird you would still be on a website about a subject matter you don’t care about….You are contradicting yourself.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=flu]Just a sinole question BG. Have you seen the house in person to be commenting in excruciating details about that house?

Out of all the people who have commented on this thread name, name one other person that spoke with authority about that house. Answer: no one but you. Because no one besides the OP has seen this house. Do you really think you “astute” observations from looking at some pretty crappy mls pictures are better than the OP who’s physically seen that house? Really?

I mean, you don’t think perhaps this is ridiculous?[/quote]You are no position to opine on my comments, here! Only the OP is. So you need to get off your high horse and let her tell us what she finds upon inspection (or thru the inspection reports of previous principals who walked on their escrows).

Get out and go for a run and quit polluting this thread. You have a habit of polluting threads with insults …. and have even polluted your OWN threads! There is something wrong with that picture. I can’t put my finger on it but all I can figure is that you have a lot of time on your hands to eff around on the internet while not making any useful contributions to the forum.

[bearishgurl]

It appears that my huge body of local RE knowledge bothers you, flu. If you don’t like reading it, then block me. Do it now, please.

******

sdgrrl, it appears that once again, Pigg flu has tried to hijack and pollute another thread with his personal insults. It’s not the first time and likely won’t be the last. Just ignore him.

In no way were my comments trying to “kill” your deal. They were intended to offer you insight as to common problems to look for in the area of the listing you made a recent offer on. I hope upon hope that that if your offer is accepted, there are no structural problems with the flipped older home you have placed an offer on and that you are satisfied with the price you will pay for it.

[Rich Toscano]

[quote=bearishgurl]For whatever reason, flu, your animosity and bitterness (currently towards me) has been shining on high beam around here in recent weeks. I thinks its well past time that you block me so you aren’t bothered by my posts … especially during the business day when you are supposedly “working.” You’ve turned into the “Champion Thread Polluter” extraordinaire.[/quote]

Don’t worry bg, you’re still the reigning champ!

Well, I was going to just leave it at that, but it feels too snarky to just make a comment like that without explaining the grievance behind it.

Speaking not as the site owner here, but just an observer — a guy who reads the comments. I’m hard pressed to find any significant thread where you have not written epic length posts, a good proportion of which fall into one (or more!) of the following categories:

– barely relevant
– even less relevant than that
– not even understandable, really
– wild speculation presented as fact

And I’ll admit to some personal bias here, but it doesn’t help that so many of your novel-length comments these days are impassioned defenses of that goose-stepping canned ham who you inexplicably think would be a good president.

So, when you actually accuse someone else of being a Champion(!) Thread Polluter… boy, I just can’t sit back and watch that without saying something.

To end on a positive note, I do appreciate that you usually keep things polite and positive, and you are a good citizen in following the “no political threadjacks” rule. But with that said, if you think “Thread Pollution” is a problem… you should take a look at your own posts and consider how you might be contributing to it.

[bearishgurl]

[quote=Rich Toscano][quote=bearishgurl]For whatever reason, flu, your animosity and bitterness (currently towards me) has been shining on high beam around here in recent weeks. I thinks its well past time that you block me so you aren’t bothered by my posts … especially during the business day when you are supposedly “working.” You’ve turned into the “Champion Thread Polluter” extraordinaire.[/quote]

Don’t worry bg, you’re still the reigning champ!

Well, I was going to just leave it at that, but it feels too snarky to just make a comment like that without explaining the grievance behind it.

Speaking not as the site owner here, but just an observer — a guy who reads the comments. I’m hard pressed to find any significant thread where you have not written epic length posts, a good proportion of which fall into one (or more!) of the following categories:

– barely relevant
– even less relevant than that
– not even understandable, really
– wild speculation presented as fact

And I’ll admit to some personal bias here, but it doesn’t help that so many of your novel-length comments these days are impassioned defenses of that goose-stepping canned ham who you inexplicably think would be a good president.

So, when you actually accuse someone else of being a Champion(!) Thread Polluter… boy, I just can’t sit back and watch that without saying something.

To end on a positive note, I do appreciate that you usually keep things polite and positive, and you are a good citizen in following the “no political threadjacks” rule. But with that said, if you think “Thread Pollution” is a problem… you should take a look at your own posts and consider how you might be contributing to it.[/quote]Well, Rich, I actually haven’t commented on why anyone would make a good president so I don’t know where you are seeing that. I’ve only commented on the process (delegate count, prediction thread, etc) and that I was a one-issue voter this year. That issue was to abolish the ACA. If anything, I have been attacked by others here and accused of being a “racist” and “woman-hater” because I posted that I changed my longtime voter registration from Dem to Rep back in April. Other longtime Piggs have also stated that they intended to vote Rep this year for President but quickly shut down and stopped posting after that, no doubt when they saw all the hateful comments directed at me.

I honestly don’t care if anyone reading my posts “believes” them or not. They are welcome to find out for themselves whether they are accurate, semi-accurate … or not accurate. In this particular case, I understand the geography of the area, I understand the demographics/culture of the area. I understand why the infrastructure around there is a bit “scanty” (even though CPW proposed to make more improvements around there). In this particular instance, I get it all, Rich. No one can take that away from me.

Every now and then, we get a prospective buyer on the forum that, based upon their posts and linked listings, they (and often their agent) appear to the reader to have absolutely no idea what it is that they are actually looking at. If I see the thread and I can offer any useful suggestions, I often do. They can take it or leave it.

Caveat emptor, as they say in real-estate speak!

Pigg flu has acted ridiculous in recent weeks, trolling around after my posts and not adding anything useful to the thread but instead taking every opportunity to insert a little barb or insult directed at me. Most of the time (if I see them), I just brush them off. In the past, he’s posted dozens of solid rows of “hieroglyphics” and other symbols to block others’ posts and even pulled this stunt to pollute his own thread (at least one). If you don’t mind your bandwidth used up in this manner, than neither do I. At the very least, it’s immature and detracts from the reading pleasure of this forum.

Rich, are you saying that you would rather read “tweets” from me? I type 85-90 wpm so typing a 4-paragraph post probably doesn’t take me as long as it would another Pigg to type one paragraph. In addition, I only visit this site when I am at my desk, on a desktop computer. I do not visit it from devices.

[PCinSD]

lol.

[Rich Toscano]

I type fast too, BG, and yet I am somehow able to keep from writing thousands of words on every thread.

As for the rest of your reply, it is pretty much a (long) list of statements that aren’t really relevant to what I wrote. Not much more needs to be said…

[Author]

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