[UCGal]

Thanks for the write up and details.

We’re looking at an EV car in our future (to go with our hybrid SUV which will take us on vacations and longer trips.)

We’ll be timing it all when our roof needs replacing – EV car, Solar Panels, new roof, all concurrent. Right now I can’t justify solar since we’re barely into tier 2… it doesn’t pencil out. Plus our cars are reliable and I don’t like the idea of replacing something that is reliable and functional.

But 4-5 years down the line – we’ll be reviewing our options again.

[UCGal]

Can you find out who the former owners used?
We were given the fire risk line when we went for insurance from AAA, but the seller (my father) had insurance with AAA – so we argued, successfully, that they were not taking on new risk – since they currently insured the property.

I’ve had Amica in the past (back east) and they were excellent about settling a nuisance claim.

[UCGal]

[quote=XBoxBoy]sdduuuude,

What has been your experience dealing with inspectors without a GC? Is that much of an issue? Inquiring minds want to know….

thanks,

XboxBoy[/quote]

Not sdduuuude – but I’ll chime in.

We’ve done several smaller projects as owner builder – and one time critical piece after our first GC walked… Our experience was pretty straightforward for inspections. Call the city for inspection. They give a window of time they’ll be out w/in 48 hours. They inspect. If someone is there, they talk over the issues. If not – they write it up.

Our experience with both GCs was they weren’t even around for the inspection – my husband or I would talk to the inspector. So no value add, in our experience, when it comes to GCs and city inspectors.

For our smaller projects with no GC (but with permits) – the inspectors added good value – telling us exactly where the short fall was and helping brainstorm solutions.

FYI – this was city of San Diego, development services.

[UCGal]

Add me to the crew that has boys sharing a room.

My husband grew up in a 3br house – as one of 6 kids. His sister got the smallest bedroom, and 5 boys shared the middle bedroom. (a triple high bunkbed and a standard bunk bed.) It wasn’t unusual since they lived in North east Philly with lots of Irish and Italian Catholic families… The house was 1400 sf – for 8 people. He never felt cramped because that’s just how people lived in their social circles.

My husband was insistent that the boys share a room. He said he learned to cooperate and get along based on the experience. We’ve seen that happening with our 10 and 12 year old. We’ve considered converting the guest room to a childs room… but haven’t seen the compelling reason to do so, yet.

We’ve got a smaller family, in a larger house, than he grew up in. 4 people, 2000sf. But it’s a good size for us. We keep our stuff pruned down enough to park both cars in the garage, while still having bikes, boogie boards/surf boards, yard stuff, etc. It just takes efficient storage and creativity. We could probably get by in 1500 sf… we did in the rental before we bought this place.

As far as homes for kids to come home to… family homesteads… I think most of you know I purchased the house I grew up in. We’ve changed it some to fit our current needs… but it’s a good house, in a good neighborhood. My eldest has informed us he’s going to buy it from us. We also built a granny flat for my in-laws to live in. That worked out very well and will provide rental income going forward.

[UCGal]

[quote=bearishgurl]
In other words, while shopping CA, you had much higher standards for a retirement home than you did in HI or France.
[/quote]
Wow – I read the same threads from Jazzman, and did not reach the same conclusion. I have no way of judging whether he had higher standards in one place or the other.

… Nor do you.

I will say that he bought *different* homes in HI and France, than he was looking at in Santa Barbara… but that doesn’t mean he was applying lower standards to those homes. Just that he found homes that fit his needs and made him want to purchase in those locations.

I don’t want to get in a pissing war with you… but when you make statements that are so judgemental, people tend to get annoyed with you.

Feel free to find random quotes of posts I’ve made through the years here to show why you’re right and I’m wrong.

[UCGal]

[quote=ljinvestor]If you have a large gain after fees it might be worth sticking it out until you have lived in it 2yrs as your primary.

If the taxable gain is minimal, why not sell when the market is hot. Life is too short to not enjoy the area your living in.[/quote]

This is good advice.

[UCGal]

I was one of those folks… left in my late 20’s, came back more than a decade later… Boy did I have sticker shock on housing. But we dug in and bought anyway. Now 12 years after coming back to San Diego, we’ve almost paid off the house we bought when we came back.

No bmw’s. I guess my SUV isn’t designer since it cost well under $40k when I bought it 8 years ago.

Once you pay for housing, California isn’t that expensive. Groceries, medical insurance, and some of the other big ticket items are cheaper here than back east. Property taxes, if you stay long enough, are a bargain. (Because of the prop13 cap). Especially if you compare it to upstate NY, or anywhere in New Jersey. Even in suburban PA – I had a much less expensive home -but prop taxes were higher.

[UCGal]

treehugger – check your messages.

I can help research what you need to do. It may require hiring an attorney – but it should be straightforward (so less than $200) if it’s as you describe.

[UCGal]

[quote=treehugger]
How do I check to see if a lien was filed?
[/quote]

https://arcc.co.san-diego.ca.us/services/grantorgrantee/search.aspx

Look up your name.
Look up the company’s name.

IIRC (I might be wrong on this) for a lien to be valid they have to send you a copy certified mail. If you have not gotten that, nor see anything on the county recorder’s website (link above), you do NOT have a lien against you.

(I assume you’re in San Diego county- I know you were in San Marcos or Oceanside before)

The angry guy on the phone might be bluffing entirely.

And if has a license (check cslb.ca.gov… not sure if pool maintenance requires a license…) report all of this to the state contractors board (cslb).

BUt if you’ve never received a 20 day notice aka preliminary notice, he can NOT file a lien and have it stand. And even if he files it now – it would only look back 20 days… So you wouldn’t owe multiple months.

http://www.cslb.ca.gov/consumers/legalissuesforconsumers/mechanicslien/HowToPreventAMechanicsLien.asp

(In our contractor nightmare we had a supplier who hadn’t been paid by the general serve us a 20 day notice more than 60 days after the contractor walked off the job. We called and explained that the job site had been closed for 60 days – and we had the CSLB complaints and bond claim records to prove it. No 20 day lookback applied since it was more than 60 days. They never filed a lien.)

[UCGal]

Nice digs, Jazzman. Congrats.

I was also wondering about the visa thing. Do you have dual citizenship? We’ve considered buying a place in Italy… which is made easier by the dual citizenship thing that my DH and sons have.

[UCGal]

Ask your pool contractor for a copy of then original contract he had with them, and proof they were paid to those terms. With that you should be able to get the lien removed.

Have you verified a lien was filed?

Did they ever give you a 20 day notice? If not – the lien can be removed… it allows a look back of 20 days and must be delivered to you by certified mail.

[UCGal]

[quote=craig kolk]i bought a new home in toll brothers
i hired PEC construction (Nicholas Escobar) to do my landscape.
Please save your money
BAIT and Switch
un-professonal
breach on contract
Un-preformance
Had to Pay $$ k to other contractors to fix his work.
Very cheap company
Warning !! Do NOT HIRE[/quote]

Please do other consumers a favor and file a complaint with the contractors license board.

If you want to recoup some money – you should look at his bond company. If he truly had a breach of contract and you can prove it – you can collect against his bond.

I’m a big believer that you need to go after the bad contractors to drive them out of business… otherwise they can financially harm the next consumer. It’s a hassle, full of stress, and you don’t get back all your money or time… but it’s worth it to protect the next guy.

If you want to know more about the process of filing a complaint…
http://www.cslb.ca.gov/Consumers/FilingAComplaint/

It’s not a fast process… In our case it took almost 2 years before the complaint showed on the website. But it’s the right thing to do.

Also – I’ve said it before – I’ll say it again. Due your due diligence! This specific contractor raised red flags for me because of a 10 day gap in his bonding history. That suggests (but is not absolute) that it’s possible a bond was paid out – and he needed to come up with money to restore his bond. (There are other explanations – but I know that is one possibility).
You can see it here on the license info:
https://www2.cslb.ca.gov/OnlineServices/CheckLicenseII/LicenseDetail.aspx?LicNum=964971
(click on the contractors bond history link)

To recap my diligence steps:
– Check the license: look for complaints, look at bonding history (looking for gaps), look at workers comp (if they don’t have it – yet you know they have direct employees… ask them about it. It opens you up to lawsuits from the workers if they should have it and don’t.) https://www2.cslb.ca.gov/OnlineServices/CheckLicenseII/checklicense.aspx
– check their civil court records for both the individual and corporate name. http://www.sdcourt.ca.gov/portal/page?_pageid=55,1&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL
– check to see it the individual or company files a lot of mechanics liens, or has a lot of judgements against them. http://arcc.co.san-diego.ca.us/services/grantorgrantee/search.aspx
– and if they still look ok – check their corporate status at the Sec. of State website: http://kepler.sos.ca.gov/
If they are signing a contract as a corporation – and don’t have active status – the contract is invalid.

[UCGal]

This was several years ago – I think we paid $1200 for trust, transfer of deed, durable POAs, medical directives, etc.

probably not the bare bones minimum, but we had some issues that were unique to us. (Every family has unique issues to their family)… She was able to give us advise on how to address our concerns, and craft language in the trust to satisfy it. We met with her 4-5 times before it was all done.

In some things, you get what you pay for. We got a good product, good advise, and good service.

[UCGal]

We used Christina White at Ruyle and Ruyle. She was excellent.

http://www.rr-lawyers.com/attorneys_Christina.htm

[UCGal]

[quote=mike92104]i too think Zimmerman profiled Martin, but not racially. I think any young man wandering around the neighborhood in the rain at 2am is odd and suspicious.[/quote]
How about a young man walking home from 7/11 at 7pm. (not 2am).
That’s the actual timeline.

[Author]

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