[earlyretirement]

[quote=Clueless]We try to pay off our MR with an address at CV but the answer we got today was that we can’t prepaid. It was a 30 yr bond with a mature year in 2033 and potential extension into 2043. We want to pay off now since we plan to stay here forever. Very unhappy with how the bond was structured.

Early retirement- you seems to know a lot about MR payoff. Could we contact you to get some advice?[/quote]

Clueless,

Which specific CFD # was it? Who did you call about it? Who did you talk to specifically?

I wouldn’t say I know a lot about Mello Roos taxes. I did prepay it off and happy to help if I can in anyway. But I’d ask you to also post about it here so others can benefit from the information and your experience.

Feel free to PM me but can you also answer here which CFD # it is and those other answers to those questions?

[earlyretirement]

Just an update. Paul from Perkins Custom Coatings called me back just now. He really took the time to answer a lot of questions. He wouldn’t give a price per sq. foot but he did give me an estimate based on the size of my garage. Interesting that he DID ask where I lived first. LOL.

Anyway, he was really helpful. He said that the chip/flake spartaflex would be around $2,500 to $2,800 for my size garage. He said he still needed to see it first. He said the Metallic epoxy that I REALLY liked would be around $4,000 to $4,500. He said that the metallic epoxy just in materials alone would be $2,800 to $3,000 and another $1,000 to $1,500 to install it.

He is coming out tomorrow to give a formal quote. I’m glad they called back today. They sound like they do really high end stuff.

[earlyretirement]

So I just spent several hours with Garage Envy and I have to say they are REALLY responsive. I just called them earlier today and they had someone at my house by 2 PM right on time. Jan that came out was really nice and was here for 2.5 hours. She took measurements and showed tons of samples. They do it all.

I had NO idea people spent this much money on their garages! She showed me a sample of her portfolio and some of these guys in RSF have spent $60,000 pimping out their garages!

I originally just wanted to get the epoxy flooring and some cabinets but by the time she left I was asking her for work benches, cabinets, storage, custom bicycle racks for 4 bikes, and other things.

They have this program where you can pretty much just see what you want and they can add it on the computer. It’s like the custom cabinet program we used when we did our closets. This stuff ain’t cheap! By the time she was done it was like $15k in stuff.

But definitely they are NOT the place to get epoxy flooring. The price per sq. foot they charge is WAY too much. It’s clear to me they specialize and make their money in all the other stuff they do. The flooring has to be low margin for them and they must purposely mark it way up.

Just doing due diligence I could already tell approximate costs. Their price for their lowest end epoxy flooring was $4.50 per sq. feet. And their highest end one (which is the one I liked) was a whopping $9 per sq. feet. No way I’m spending that kind of money as my garage is 800 sq. ft. She said that price includes the labor, installation/materials and sales tax.

No way it should cost that much. Plus the rub is their warranty on the flooring is only 1 year. On the Perkin’s website it says their warranty is a whopping 15 years. I called her out on that and she told me that Perkins is VERY good and that they have quality products and do a great job. She wasn’t going to lie which I respected and she even said they will definitely beat her on price.

She even said that she wasn’t going to include a budget and that there wasn’t ANY way they could come close to Perkins on the price. I asked her why in the world their warranty is only 1 year??? I told her if they have quality products and quality installation there is NO reason it should only be 1 year. She said they’ve had “issues” in the past. Long story short she said to go with Perkins and they would do a great job and the best in SD.

Perkin’s never called me back today so they don’t sound as hungry for the business like Garage Envy is. Hopefully they call tomorrow as I already know what I want. Garage Envy seems like a really high end outfit. They had slick brochures that looked expensive. They also do Jay Leno’s garage. There were a lot of promotional pieces with Jay Leno in them with photos of his garage.

I’ll still give Garage Envy a chance but I have California Closets coming out this week to quote on the job as well. But for those of you looking for Epoxy flooring it sounds like Perkins is where it’s at.

Thanks again SK for the great comments. And thanks ljinvestor for that referral on Perkins. It helped seeing the website and reading a bit about it before Garage Envy came out and seeing about that warranty difference. Now, if I can get them to call me back for a quote I’m gold.

[quote=njtosd]We’re thinking about using laminate flooring from IKEA. It’s cheaper per square foot than epoxy and looks nicer. I don’t understand the appeal of the confetti look.[/quote]

The confetti look I agree I didn’t think I’d like but looking at photos it looks nice with the right set of custom cabinets. Wow, I didn’t realize what a selection of stuff they sell. I’ve never seen anyone pimp out their garage like some of this stuff I’ve seen. To be honest, I’m not the type that spends much time in the garage before.

The REALLY gorgeous flooring is the Quartz or Metallic epoxy solid finishes that are shiny. Wow they are gorgeous. She showed me a few photos and it looks like a showroom floor. But no way I could justify that kind of price for garage flooring!

She also showed me tons of people that get this interlocking tiles type flooring. Looked a bit strange to me and seems like dust/debris would go through the cracks. Didn’t seem to make sense to me as it was the same price as the Epoxy.

I guess the only possible advantage would be if you spilled something corrosive in an area you can just change out one tile but it reminded me of a gymnasium! LOL.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=SK in CV]I measured my garage and checked a few sources and figured out I have a slightly larger than average 2 car garage. It’s 21×21 so about 440 sq ft. Works out that I paid $2.22 per sq ft. My neighbor must have paid closer to $3.40/ft. I’m sure there is someone out there that has paid much less than me, and probably someone who has paid >$4/ft.

There probably is a difference in the care taken in installation, but I suspect the actual assembly is identical no matter who is doing it. I was in kind of a rush when I was had it done, I wanted it finished before I moved in, so didn’t have the time to screw around with getting a lot of quotes. But it was also a very dead period for new construction so the contractors were probably hungry.

I think it’s like a lot of contracting work, vendors will charge whatever they think you’ll pay. So they want to size you up before they give you a number. I’d get quotes from a few and bargain with them. They’re entitled to make a reasonable profit, and that’s probably somewhere between $2.00 and $2.50/ft. Anything over that, they’re making good bling. And a bigger garage should probably be even less /ft. Marginal cost has to be minimal between a 400 and 800 sq ft garage.[/quote]

GREAT! Thanks. Yep, I have no problem with good vendors making a profit. Especially if they are responsive. I called Garage Envy this morning and they already have someone coming out today to give me a quote.

I called the other place listed above and they said the scheduler comes in at 2 PM and will call me to come out this week. So I’ll get these quotes and post back.

I definitely want to go with the Epoxy or that SpartaFlex looks great!! It looks like it’s higher quality, thicker has a 15 year warranty and the company actually looks like they have been around for 40 years so there is actually a chance on them being around if you have to use the warranty.

Thanks again guys for all the great advice.

[earlyretirement]

Great! Thanks. I’ll also give them a shout. I saw on AngiesList that there is Garage Envy but it seems like people all say the same thing that they don’t want to quote a price per sq. foot over the phone. They want to come out and give the presentation and “size you up”.

On another forum that I post a guy said he said them Coronado Speed Festival this weekend and they also were hesitant to give quotes. What’s up with that????

Oh well…I have a few places I will call and report back. I’m definitely having the work done. Just a matter of finding the best vendor. Thanks guys.

ljinvestor, might I ask what you paid price per sq. foot to add on the epoxy flooring? Thanks.

[earlyretirement]

NEVER in my life did I ever think I’d reserve/order a car without test driving it! Well, I guess there is a first time for everything.

Just put down my deposit for the Model X. It doesn’t come out until late 2014 which probably means early 2015 but can’t wait.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=spdrun]ER – I am doing the best I can despite what Mr. BS at the Fed is doing. I’ll probably do fine IF current trends continue.[/quote]

That’s great spdrun. It does sounds like you are making the most of it and made some great purchases picking up properties at distressed prices. I’m not sure how your cap rates are but I’d have to guess the cash flow is good. Did you flip any of them or will you hang on to them for the long haul for cash flow?

Anyway, congrats on the purchases. I have an affinity for real estate vs. other investments. But at this point of my life, I don’t really want to add any more real estate to my portfolio. But if things were to go back to the lows of a few years ago I’ll add some more.

I kick myself for not picking up at least another property here in San Diego.

My strategy the past few years (although I haven’t been crazy about continuing to plow cash into the stock market at these levels) has been to continue adding stock of companies that have a strong balance sheet and making money at a good clip.

Then I’ll sell the forward month covered call option. The % gains have been incredible. I’ll only buy stocks that I would feel comfortable holding for the long haul anyway. Several times stock has been called away and that is ok. I’ll sell the forward month or two option and sell far enough up where I’ll have a good gain plus I make the cash when I sell the call option.

I’ve been doing that with AAPL and been doing well. Bought some the other day at $450 with a GTC limit order that kicked in. Then sold the October $460 Call option the next day and got like a $20 premium.

But you have to be willing to limit your upside reward. Case in point, I sold the NOK $5 call options and it’s exploded the past few weeks with the Microsoft announcement. All I’ll get is $5 for my shares. 🙁

Obviously you limit your upside potential in the event that it skyrockets but I find this conservative type play to be very rewarding. I’ve been selling covered call options for years and it’s paid off extremely well.

But just as FlyerinHI mentioned…there are always ways to make money in good times and bad.

[earlyretirement]

Great. Thanks again. Yes, I ran into the same type of thing asking people what they paid. Seems like identical size garages people were paying vastly different prices per sq. foot.

Several warnings I’ve read said that many vendors will mark up the price per sq. foot in nicer communities.

It’s funny. I never cared before about the garage. But now that I bought a new EV car I’ve been washing the car myself. Prior to this I don’t think I hand washed a car since high school! LOL.

I’ll do some more research on AngiesList. Thanks.

[earlyretirement]

Thanks SK in CV. I have a 3 car garage so I guess it would be a bit more but just in doing some due diligence it seems like prices are all over the place. I don’t know ANYTHING at all about epoxy flooring.

Is yours totally waterproof? For example, can you wash your car in the garage if you wanted?

[earlyretirement]

[quote=FlyerInHi]If you are smart, you can do well regardless.

Remember that other people doing shitty doesn’t make you do better.

.[/quote]

Wise words. I really enjoy your posts FlyerinHI. I’m a bit late to this thread but I think the key take away is that there are so many people that I hear almost wish for another financial collapse. This is just foolish to me.

All perhaps in the likelihood that ‘this time’ they will try to take advantage and make money. People do NOT realize how disastrous things could have turned out for us. Most people don’t truly understand how dire of a situation we were in.

To wish in ANY way, shape or form to anything close to that is reckless, IMHO.

I’m NO fan of endless printing of money. It typically never ends well over the long run for ANY country. I’ve lived abroad in countries where governments have printed endless amounts of money. Trust me, it doesn’t end well.

Still, I’m also of the opinion of “Do NOT fight the Fed”. No amount of complaining is going to change things. The way I look at it is that it is what it is. I have investor clients that started shorting the market against earlier this year and just gotten killed. You can’t fight the fed.

As FlyinHI mentioned, there are ways to do well regardless if you are smart. Things go up and things go down.

The only thing you can do is prepare for a possible scenario where things don’t end well with all of this printing of money. Eliminate ALL debt, build up assets, have a paid off place and preferably have another place or places that you own that generate cash flow.

In the ideal situation, you own another property abroad and even have dual citizenship or establish permanent residency in a second place. I don’t think it will come down to a situation where people need to worry about this but part of my game plan was thinking of a worst case scenario situation.

The USA is and probably always will be the greatest country in the world. I have more of an appreciation for it having lived abroad so many years and seeing first hand that our way of life, safety, efficiency, banking system is the best!

The situation with the Fed is what it is. No amount of complaining will help so people just need to take steps to do what they can to make the best returns they can without too much risk.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=bearishgurl]Oh, I understand all that, ER. You’ve stated here repeatedly that your current residence will likely be your “forever home.”

I wasn’t sure whether your improvements were visible from the exterior of your property … or not. I surmised you had spent at least $100K on them because of your various descriptions here on what you installed.

My point is (as I stated much earlier in this thread), that I don’t think anyone can really predict whether paid-off MR will actually improve the ultimate sales price of a property over recent comparable sales. In any case, buyers who have to get mortgages have lenders who will have appraisals done and if the agreed-upon sales price exceeds the appraisal, the lender will only loan the buyer(s) what they are qualified to borrow and only up to a certain LTV. So these buyers may very well have to make up the difference to the sellers from their pockets if seller won’t lower their price down to their buyer’s appraisal amt. If they cannot do so, they will have to back out.

Prepaid MR might make a property more saleable and sell much faster than the sea of listings around them which still owe MR. Whether or not that translates into any more money for sellers who prepaid MR is anyone’s guess.

In your case, it doesn’t matter because your pay-off was deeply discounted from what you would have had to pay your CFD(s) over the long haul had you not retired your MRs. And you will certainly own the property longer than the break-even point which I think you stated was ~10 years. So you prepaid you MRs strictly to benefit yourself.[/quote]

Hi BG. The only thing you could spot from the outside is we totally re landscaped our yard so you can see that. But I live in a gated community so it’s not like anyone from the public could even see it. Everything else was all done inside.

And interestingly enough, before Google Maps had Street View of the streets here as I think a Google car snuck in. But complaints to Google got them TOTALLY removed so you can’t see the street view anymore from the streets in my community.

When I bought my house a few years ago I COULD see the street view which was really a great benefit. But so many people in my hood complained to Google for privacy reasons and legally they should NOT have entered so they had to remove it.

Oh yeah, we actually did quite a bit of work. My wife is glad to be done. I’m always wanting to do more! I just decided I will renovate the interior of the garage to make it really nice. That is one thing she doesn’t mind! I’m having California Closets come out next week to give a quote on really getting it super organized.

I actually TOTALLY agree with you that NO ONE should be paying off their Mello Roos to try to improve their resale value or in the hopes of more easily selling their house. That I don’t agree with at all. I think it only makes sense for pure ROI principles.

I totally agree with you there. There are NO guarantees at all about that. What I am guaranteed is that I have a good and guaranteed ROI paying off my CFD’s and totally remove the possibility that I’ll get stuck dealing with extensions in the future. It’s a great feeling to me and well worth it.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=bearishgurl]ER, you’ve made my point for me. If “zillow” values are actually correct, the old listings the on three links you just posted are now almost equal to (or beyond) “millenium boom prices,” regardless of the amount of MR still owed on them. They went back up because their micromarket shot up in price in the ensuing couple of years. This (partially) explains the amounts of your recent unsolicited offers.

A property being sold way below market as a short sale also has a tendency to shoot up in value after purchased/cleaned up a little.

Congrats, ER! MR paid off or not, you apparently purchased in an area of high demand. It will be interesting to see if this level of demand keeps up if the majority of properties begin listing (and selling) for OVER $1.5M and stay there.[/quote]

Hi BG. If anything many houses in my area the Zillow prices are actually low. For example, a recent house in my area sold in a few hours and they sold it $150,000 more than the Zillow estimate.

The recent unsolicited offers for my house do NOT account for the $150,000 I spent in renovations. One of the people that offered on it actually saw it while it was for sale before I bought it. They since had another baby. But the other 2 never saw the inside of it and never will as the house was never for sale while I owned it. The person that did see it never saw it with all the renovations we did in it.

I’m not sure how prices will do in the future. But honestly I don’t really care too much. They could fall back down and I wouldn’t really care as I plan to stay in the house. It could also go up to $2 million and I still wouldn’t sell as we have the house perfect how we want it.

I don’t want to move again for a long long time. 🙂 But if we ever see a downfall like we saw before I won’t make the mistake again of not picking up another house or 2 for investment properties. That was one of the dumbest moves that I didn’t take advantage of.

I KNEW property values would go back up but I missed out. I did make a few offers on properties in Carmel Valley but I wasn’t going to get into a bidding war or pay more than asking prices. I got beat on a few with cash offers.

Oh well..hindsight is 20/20 as they say. I guess you can’t win them all. I’ve done extremely well over the years with real estate plays and timing the real estate market.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=all][quote=earlyretirement]
There were some STEALS back then. I remember seeing some HUGE houses in the $1 million range. People that picked them up at the lows must be happy. The area is really great but I was always curious how it was back there. [/quote]

I made a couple of offers in 2008-2009. The lady of the house thought we would be stretching, the area is not walkable and it would be too much hassle to maintain the house and the yard, so I gave up.[/quote]

Yeah, I agree about the area not being too walkable. We do enjoy riding our bikes quite a bit. The things that turned me off was the proximity to the school there. I imagined that traffic would back up in the afternoon on Carmel Valley Road/Bernardo Center Drive and indeed I do notice that there are TONS of cars at the end of the day when parents are picking up their kids.

Also, I did NOT want or need a HUGE lot like that. Some of those houses are on 1/2 to 1 acre spreads and that was actually a huge turn off to me to have to maintain a yard like that. To me more important was access and close proximately to great parks and playgrounds so Santaluz worked out PERFECTLY for my family.

The weather is pretty incredible in this area however as you avoid the marine layering yet you avoid the hotter temperatures a bit further beyond passing I-15. Best as I can tell those people that bought did VERY well. Picking up houses like that at the time and the prices they did will pay for a lot of water to water the huge yards. LOL.

How was the quality of construction of the houses all? Was any of it custom homes or was it lower end nothing special stuff like some of what is in 4S Ranch? From some of the listings I remember the houses look like they used good materials and they looked really nice. Quality of construction looked solid although I didn’t see any of the houses in person so I was always curious. It didn’t appear to be the cookie cutter type house that so much of the area has.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=all][quote=earlyretirement]
Quick question for those of you that have been living here for a while? That back road on Winecreek Road, was it always a gated community? I don’t recall a few years ago there being a gate around the community. Is that new or has that always been there?

I remember back in 2010 there were many houses in severe distress back there and the sales prices were very low relative to the lot and home sizes. I believe that is where Romney’s son bought a place. Has that always been gated? I tried driving around there the other day and saw it gated. Is that new? Thanks in advance.[/quote]

The subdivision is named Ivy Gate. Yes, it was gated since the day one. Romney (Matt?) owns there. Another son of Mitt’s lives in the area, possibly the same subdivision and they have few relatives in 4S.

The hotel probably makes less sense with no golf course, but they will try to build something and I am not sure how easy it is to make major changes in the plan.[/quote]

Thanks all for taking the time to answer. Ah ok that’s good to know it’s always been gated. I was always curious how it was back there. Because during the downfall I remember looking at Google Maps and even some for sale listings had these HUGE yards and the owners couldn’t even afford to landscape them! I remember back in 2009 and 2010 there were listings for them with barren lots.

There were some STEALS back then. I remember seeing some HUGE houses in the $1 million range. People that picked them up at the lows must be happy. The area is really great but I was always curious how it was back there.

Here are a few houses I remember seeing for sale but I never got a chance to check them out because I found a property.

http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Diego/10239-Winecreek-Ct-92127/home/7524615

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/10239-Winecreek-Ct-San-Diego-CA-92127/69022036_zpid/

5,361 sq. feet Sold on May 13, 2011 for $1,050,000. Previous sale was July 11, 2006 for $1,583,000.

It was a short sale. Zillow’s estimate has it worth $1.7+ million now!

http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Diego/9910-Winecrest-Rd-92127/home/12153529

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/9910-Winecrest-Rd-San-Diego-CA-92127/79570051_zpid/

4,205 sq. feet. Sold on July 28, 2011 for $1.1 million. Previous sale was March 2, 2007 for $1.463 million.

Zillow estimate for $1.493 million now.

http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Diego/10240-Winecreek-Ct-92127/home/7524625

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/10240-Winecreek-Ct-San-Diego-CA-92127/69022044_zpid/

Zillow Estimate now $1.319 million.

Exactly correct about the NO hotel without the golf course. I just don’t see the hotel happening. Not now not ever.

[earlyretirement]

[quote=bearishgurl][quote=UCGal]BG –

ER, correct me if I’m wrong, but I understood you to state here that you were SURE that EVERY prospective buyer in SD County in the $1M+ range would fall head over heels for your house when they became aware that you prepaid your MR and would be glad to compensate you in your sales price for your prepayment. And no matter where their target shopping area was located, they could be “drawn” and “led” by their agent/broker to your listing because of this fact.

.[/quote]

No, that’s not what I said nor implied. Not even close.

[quote=all]

No, I don’t think they will put the north golf course back in plan. If you look at the map you can see the intended location and it does not look like anything is replacing it.

2013 financing plan just lists the hotel as a TBD item, it was not supposed to be completed during 2013FY. The plan was last amended in 2009 and it is available here.
The senior center you mentioned earlier is in the plan – look at the map on p.34 and p.47. The employment center is supposed to go right next to the shopping center, all the way to the north.

I can’t locate the hotel on any of the maps. Based on the available info it will likely go in the far eastern corner of the north village – across the street from Ivy Gate and Oak Valley middle school.[/quote]

I still say that hotel probably never ever happens. I could be wrong but I just can’t see it. It IS amazing watching the growth of new home developments in that area. Wow, the recovery was sure quick and I know several people that bought 2nd properties in that back development and in Del Sur. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Yes, that senior center has always been zoned for that type of facility. Actually I think it could be a good idea because many families in the area have older parents and they might not want them living with them but want them very close.

Plus that plot of land isn’t too big and there aren’t too many options there and the field is just empty and ugly with weeds growing on. It’s sitting right next to the school (Willow Grove). Of course I need to hear more about it and get some specific questions answered but I don’t think it’s a bad idea and could even possibly be interested in the far future in utilizing it for family.

I think an even better use of that land however would be for Willow Grove to expand and build some more classrooms. There is HUGE demand for enrollment there and always more kids that want to get in and more and more young families moving to the area. Something like 53 kids didn’t get into Kindergarten here this school year. And there are already 5 Kindergarten classes there now.

I get sick when I read about OUR CFD taxes that we pay being used in schools in NON-CFD areas! If PUSD has a problem spending the money, they could investigate the feasibility of getting this land and expanding the school. That would be a GREAT use of funds!

I’m not sure how feasible it would be (probably impossible) but I think a better use of this land would be to expand Willow Grove so more families that live in the area can send their kids to school here rather than drive to other areas. The school is amazing and one of the BEST Elementary schools in the State. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am with that school.

Quick question for those of you that have been living here for a while? That back road on Winecreek Road, was it always a gated community? I don’t recall a few years ago there being a gate around the community. Is that new or has that always been there?

I remember back in 2010 there were many houses in severe distress back there and the sales prices were very low relative to the lot and home sizes. I believe that is where Romney’s son bought a place. Has that always been gated? I tried driving around there the other day and saw it gated. Is that new? Thanks in advance.

[Author]

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