[permabear]

[quote=sdrealtor]If all it took was running a database that would have occured a longtime ago. Seriously, Zillow was backed by major amounts of venture capital. Google could create a database in a day capable of running the data portion. But none of them have which tells you it cant be that simple. If it was someone would have done it already.[/quote]

First off, I agree with you that litigation, especially in CA, is no joke.

That said, this could easily be dealt with in a centralized manner. That is, have a set of people reviewing entries into the “iMLS” before they’re made public. If there’s an issue with the wording, shoot it back to the submitter and say, “You can’t say ‘a bunch of old people’ live in this neighborhood – try ‘established’ instead.”

Also, it’s not sufficient to say, “Well, Zillow burned thru all this ca$h so obviously it can’t work.” MP3.com (remember them?) burned thru tons of cash, as did Napster. Yet, iTunes, with the exact same business model, now rules the universe. So, it’s money + brains. Sometimes startups figure money will solve everything, even if spent stupidly.

This doesn’t mean it’s easy, but somebody will succeed. Maybe Redfin. And it’ll be disruptive, and school all the traditional realtors. Just like how the USPS and Cable companies are getting schooled now. It took 10 years, but it happened.

[permabear]

[quote=sdrealtor]If all it took was running a database that would have occured a longtime ago. Seriously, Zillow was backed by major amounts of venture capital. Google could create a database in a day capable of running the data portion. But none of them have which tells you it cant be that simple. If it was someone would have done it already.[/quote]

First off, I agree with you that litigation, especially in CA, is no joke.

That said, this could easily be dealt with in a centralized manner. That is, have a set of people reviewing entries into the “iMLS” before they’re made public. If there’s an issue with the wording, shoot it back to the submitter and say, “You can’t say ‘a bunch of old people’ live in this neighborhood – try ‘established’ instead.”

Also, it’s not sufficient to say, “Well, Zillow burned thru all this ca$h so obviously it can’t work.” MP3.com (remember them?) burned thru tons of cash, as did Napster. Yet, iTunes, with the exact same business model, now rules the universe. So, it’s money + brains. Sometimes startups figure money will solve everything, even if spent stupidly.

This doesn’t mean it’s easy, but somebody will succeed. Maybe Redfin. And it’ll be disruptive, and school all the traditional realtors. Just like how the USPS and Cable companies are getting schooled now. It took 10 years, but it happened.

[permabear]

[quote=sdrealtor]If all it took was running a database that would have occured a longtime ago. Seriously, Zillow was backed by major amounts of venture capital. Google could create a database in a day capable of running the data portion. But none of them have which tells you it cant be that simple. If it was someone would have done it already.[/quote]

First off, I agree with you that litigation, especially in CA, is no joke.

That said, this could easily be dealt with in a centralized manner. That is, have a set of people reviewing entries into the “iMLS” before they’re made public. If there’s an issue with the wording, shoot it back to the submitter and say, “You can’t say ‘a bunch of old people’ live in this neighborhood – try ‘established’ instead.”

Also, it’s not sufficient to say, “Well, Zillow burned thru all this ca$h so obviously it can’t work.” MP3.com (remember them?) burned thru tons of cash, as did Napster. Yet, iTunes, with the exact same business model, now rules the universe. So, it’s money + brains. Sometimes startups figure money will solve everything, even if spent stupidly.

This doesn’t mean it’s easy, but somebody will succeed. Maybe Redfin. And it’ll be disruptive, and school all the traditional realtors. Just like how the USPS and Cable companies are getting schooled now. It took 10 years, but it happened.

[permabear]

I just passed on purchasing a lot in August. So, quite recently.

I think the people you are talking to are hungry for work, like you said – but also grossly underestimating the job.

I would recommend you do a spreadsheet at 150, 200, 250, and 300 a sq ft. If 150 is a breeze, 200 is ok, 250 is a little tight, and 300 is very tight, then you’re probably ok. I would still talk to some GC’s familiar with Santaluz, though. Santaluz is a whole beast with a special approval process.

But, if 150 is ok, 200 is pretty tight, 250/300 impossible… I would be very hesitant. I have an uncle that builds spec homes for a living. He always budgets 200 – but sometimes it’s 100-150, and other times 250-300 – with the same architect and GC he always uses. There’s just alot of unknowns.

[permabear]

I just passed on purchasing a lot in August. So, quite recently.

I think the people you are talking to are hungry for work, like you said – but also grossly underestimating the job.

I would recommend you do a spreadsheet at 150, 200, 250, and 300 a sq ft. If 150 is a breeze, 200 is ok, 250 is a little tight, and 300 is very tight, then you’re probably ok. I would still talk to some GC’s familiar with Santaluz, though. Santaluz is a whole beast with a special approval process.

But, if 150 is ok, 200 is pretty tight, 250/300 impossible… I would be very hesitant. I have an uncle that builds spec homes for a living. He always budgets 200 – but sometimes it’s 100-150, and other times 250-300 – with the same architect and GC he always uses. There’s just alot of unknowns.

[permabear]

I just passed on purchasing a lot in August. So, quite recently.

I think the people you are talking to are hungry for work, like you said – but also grossly underestimating the job.

I would recommend you do a spreadsheet at 150, 200, 250, and 300 a sq ft. If 150 is a breeze, 200 is ok, 250 is a little tight, and 300 is very tight, then you’re probably ok. I would still talk to some GC’s familiar with Santaluz, though. Santaluz is a whole beast with a special approval process.

But, if 150 is ok, 200 is pretty tight, 250/300 impossible… I would be very hesitant. I have an uncle that builds spec homes for a living. He always budgets 200 – but sometimes it’s 100-150, and other times 250-300 – with the same architect and GC he always uses. There’s just alot of unknowns.

[permabear]

I just passed on purchasing a lot in August. So, quite recently.

I think the people you are talking to are hungry for work, like you said – but also grossly underestimating the job.

I would recommend you do a spreadsheet at 150, 200, 250, and 300 a sq ft. If 150 is a breeze, 200 is ok, 250 is a little tight, and 300 is very tight, then you’re probably ok. I would still talk to some GC’s familiar with Santaluz, though. Santaluz is a whole beast with a special approval process.

But, if 150 is ok, 200 is pretty tight, 250/300 impossible… I would be very hesitant. I have an uncle that builds spec homes for a living. He always budgets 200 – but sometimes it’s 100-150, and other times 250-300 – with the same architect and GC he always uses. There’s just alot of unknowns.

[permabear]

I just passed on purchasing a lot in August. So, quite recently.

I think the people you are talking to are hungry for work, like you said – but also grossly underestimating the job.

I would recommend you do a spreadsheet at 150, 200, 250, and 300 a sq ft. If 150 is a breeze, 200 is ok, 250 is a little tight, and 300 is very tight, then you’re probably ok. I would still talk to some GC’s familiar with Santaluz, though. Santaluz is a whole beast with a special approval process.

But, if 150 is ok, 200 is pretty tight, 250/300 impossible… I would be very hesitant. I have an uncle that builds spec homes for a living. He always budgets 200 – but sometimes it’s 100-150, and other times 250-300 – with the same architect and GC he always uses. There’s just alot of unknowns.

[permabear]

[quote=sdcellar]As I understand it, you have to build like an 18-inch thick wall to conform to their architectural guidelines. This means that each wall has to actually be two walls; i.e. it comes down to building a house within a house.[/quote]

Yeah, that’s a biggie. They’re strict with their authentic Spanish hacienda rules. Also, they will hold your plans from 6 months – 2 years before letting you build, to vett them.

You may want to stop by the Baywood Collection. They have paint-by-numbers custom homes that they’ll build on any Santaluz lot. It’s useful because they can give you a sense for budget. They lowered their prices so it’s about $1.3M for a 4000 sq ft home, so $325/ft.

http://www.dgdart.com/baywood/

[permabear]

[quote=sdcellar]As I understand it, you have to build like an 18-inch thick wall to conform to their architectural guidelines. This means that each wall has to actually be two walls; i.e. it comes down to building a house within a house.[/quote]

Yeah, that’s a biggie. They’re strict with their authentic Spanish hacienda rules. Also, they will hold your plans from 6 months – 2 years before letting you build, to vett them.

You may want to stop by the Baywood Collection. They have paint-by-numbers custom homes that they’ll build on any Santaluz lot. It’s useful because they can give you a sense for budget. They lowered their prices so it’s about $1.3M for a 4000 sq ft home, so $325/ft.

http://www.dgdart.com/baywood/

[permabear]

[quote=sdcellar]As I understand it, you have to build like an 18-inch thick wall to conform to their architectural guidelines. This means that each wall has to actually be two walls; i.e. it comes down to building a house within a house.[/quote]

Yeah, that’s a biggie. They’re strict with their authentic Spanish hacienda rules. Also, they will hold your plans from 6 months – 2 years before letting you build, to vett them.

You may want to stop by the Baywood Collection. They have paint-by-numbers custom homes that they’ll build on any Santaluz lot. It’s useful because they can give you a sense for budget. They lowered their prices so it’s about $1.3M for a 4000 sq ft home, so $325/ft.

http://www.dgdart.com/baywood/

[permabear]

[quote=sdcellar]As I understand it, you have to build like an 18-inch thick wall to conform to their architectural guidelines. This means that each wall has to actually be two walls; i.e. it comes down to building a house within a house.[/quote]

Yeah, that’s a biggie. They’re strict with their authentic Spanish hacienda rules. Also, they will hold your plans from 6 months – 2 years before letting you build, to vett them.

You may want to stop by the Baywood Collection. They have paint-by-numbers custom homes that they’ll build on any Santaluz lot. It’s useful because they can give you a sense for budget. They lowered their prices so it’s about $1.3M for a 4000 sq ft home, so $325/ft.

http://www.dgdart.com/baywood/

[permabear]

[quote=sdcellar]As I understand it, you have to build like an 18-inch thick wall to conform to their architectural guidelines. This means that each wall has to actually be two walls; i.e. it comes down to building a house within a house.[/quote]

Yeah, that’s a biggie. They’re strict with their authentic Spanish hacienda rules. Also, they will hold your plans from 6 months – 2 years before letting you build, to vett them.

You may want to stop by the Baywood Collection. They have paint-by-numbers custom homes that they’ll build on any Santaluz lot. It’s useful because they can give you a sense for budget. They lowered their prices so it’s about $1.3M for a 4000 sq ft home, so $325/ft.

http://www.dgdart.com/baywood/

[permabear]

I just went through this exercise in the Santaluz area and decided not to build. I spoke with several architects, and all of them told me $200-250 was more realistic.

Those contractors are likely lowballing you to get the job. I spoke with one who said $150, and then we went through the type of house, and finishes, etc, and it became $180… 200… 230…

What is your total budget? If you’re talking $1-1.2M, my conclusion was you can’t build a nice home for that, especially in that area. If you then go up a bit in price, I think 1.5M is definitely doable, but then there are also occasional deals like this too in that price range:

http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Diego/7828-Santaluz-Inlt-92127/home/7447454

I ran a whole excel spreadsheet and figured the house would have to be about 3000 sq ft and the land < 300k, and then you could hit $1-1.2M realistically. But remember there's that extra $1000 each month you have to pay too. For me it was just on the edge - a 10% overrun would have be death. Your budget may be different.

[permabear]

I just went through this exercise in the Santaluz area and decided not to build. I spoke with several architects, and all of them told me $200-250 was more realistic.

Those contractors are likely lowballing you to get the job. I spoke with one who said $150, and then we went through the type of house, and finishes, etc, and it became $180… 200… 230…

What is your total budget? If you’re talking $1-1.2M, my conclusion was you can’t build a nice home for that, especially in that area. If you then go up a bit in price, I think 1.5M is definitely doable, but then there are also occasional deals like this too in that price range:

http://www.redfin.com/CA/San-Diego/7828-Santaluz-Inlt-92127/home/7447454

I ran a whole excel spreadsheet and figured the house would have to be about 3000 sq ft and the land < 300k, and then you could hit $1-1.2M realistically. But remember there's that extra $1000 each month you have to pay too. For me it was just on the edge - a 10% overrun would have be death. Your budget may be different.

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