All Forum Posts by: Daniel Miller

ummm... okay, that's pretty consistent... I'll go with his recommendation then.  Thank you all!!

I am selling a house (San Jose, CA)... I have selected an agent to handle the house; he's been in the business for many years, and has a good reputation with previous customers.  I've felt good in all my dealings with him so far, but a couple of his decisions didn't seem right to me; some I just said "no, we're not going to do that", and he's given me no problems with that... but there is one thing he wants to do, that I'm not sure about, so I wanted to ask folks here what they think about it...

The topic is hardwood vs carpet floors... we have a combined living room/dining room, and a long hallway... the living/dining room is currently carpeted, but very old and ugly, it will get replaced with *something* in any case; the hallway is 50+ year old tile.  He is a strong believer in hardwood floors, and wants to convert all of those areas into that; actually, he says that his contractor looked under the existing carpet and says there is a beautiful hardwood floor underneath that rug, that would be lovely once they cleaned it up and refinished it (it has been carpeted for at least the past 50 years).  He has told me multiple times that buyers *much* prefer hardwood floors...

However, that doesn't really match my (admittedly meager) experice; milady and I *hate* cold hardwood floors, and both of the tenants that rented it, felt the same, and they both got throw carpets to cover the two smaller rooms that are currently hardwood floors... so I don't know what to think about this...

And *yes*, it is true that I won't be living there anyway, so what do I care??  He's getting me quotes for both options, and they look at this point like the costs will be more or less comparable.

Anyway, I just would like to know what other people with experience, think about hardwood vs carpet floors, specifically in heavily-used central rooms??  I wish to have some insight into this topic, from people who have experience in dealing with many properties.  Thank you all once again for your insights!!

This sooo reminds me of the last time we paid rent... it was 1997 (Fremont, CA), landlord raised the rent from $900 to $1150... I said *there is NO WAY I'm paying $1150 to rent a house!!*, and we gave notice that we would move... he then put the house on the market for $1750, only two people looked at it, and one took it!!  Wow, was I stunned!!

Now, of course, $1750 would be a *miracle* price for a 3-bedroom house, anywhere in S.F. Bay Area...

ITM, we went on to look into buying a house and getting out of the rental market, which we did... but that's a separate story...

Okay!!  Thank you all for your recommendations; I've spent last night and this morning researching options, but there is *no question* that a pergola does *exactly* what we want, is sturdy and robust, and won't cost nearly as much to get installed... not to mention we won't have to worry about our house getting re-appraised... that is definitely a winner...

You folks are the Greatest !!!!!!!!!!!!

Quote from @Colleen F.:

@Scott E.  the draftsman did plans for our second story addition for about that or a little less. I would figure this kind of thing would cost less but maybe not and it is california. 

@Daniel Miller  I would search patio or garage post and beam.  These are normally local companies that also build houses or other freestanding structures like garages. The advantage is they may have a design build team in house and some easily adaptable plans.  However, it may be that those kind of companies are more common here then in your area. 

As for the retractable awnings it is just a thought. If you get a lot of heavy winds they can be an issue. Also  as they age when things break the companies don't support replacement parts.  They are best if you don't want shade all the time. Also a pergola is another option if you don't want constant shade.

Thank you for these suggestions!!  The pergola is interesting; some of them look pretty rugged; I could probably get a handyman to bolt it to the wall and patio surface without much trouble... I'll consider that; in the meantime, I'll try searching for "post and beam" constractors, though my initial search didn't turn up much...

And *yes*, winds are definitely a consideration here; we get winds up to 40mph here, especially in autumn and early winter; that, rather than rain, is what usually drives me to take down the tarp every year...

as far as permits go, we've lived in this house for 25 years now, and it is paid in full...  I certainly don't want to do a half-way job, and I have more confidence in contractors who consider permits a normal part of doing business...

I don't know if the drawings are typically part of getting a contracting job done, but I really would prefer dealing with a company who does everything needed to get the job done right, including drawings, permits, planning, and building... as I commented previously, I want to get an addon which will be as robust as the rest of the house, and will last the rest of our lives!!

Quote from @Colleen F.:

@Daniel Miller you don't have to get an architect, we used a draftsman for an addition, much cheaper.  Based on your description though wouldn't an awning be viable.  Or here we have a post and beam company that does something Similar all the time and probably has designs you modify to taste. 

Hi Colleen; I had previously looked at retractible awnings, on Ebay and other sites, but all had significant numbers of users who said the devices were not reliable, and fell apart after a few years... I want to put in something that will last for 20 years without being messed with... otherwise, I might as well stick with the tarps...

If I wanted to talk to a 'post and beam' company, as you mention, what would I search for??

We want to have a permanent patio built onto our house (Fremont, CA).  Up until now, every year once the rainy season ends, we've been putting up a heavy-duty tarp; 12'x10', two corners attached to our eaves and two held up with 10' wood poles, attached with cords to posts pushed into the ground.  When the windy season (or rain, if we get any in a given year) arrives in autumn, I take it down; the tarp generally lasts 2-3 years before needing replacement.

Anyway, I'd like to replace that with a robust permanent structure, which I'm envisioning as being a similar structure as the tarp thing; two corners attached to 2x4s in the eaves, the other two out in the yard attached to a 2x4 or 4x4 set of wood posts, fastened securely to the cement surface in the yard.  The top should be well-supported wood panel design, possibly with the same composite-tile surface that our roof has...

So, I searched on Yelp for general contractors who had good user ratings; the first two wouldn't even discuss such a small job; the third asked me 'do you have drawings?' ... ummm... no, I don't... he said he would talk to his people and call me back, but he never did so... I'm taking that as a "no bid" situation...

So now I'm a little baffled... am I really going to have to hire an architectural engineering firm to generate drawings, for such a simple project?  This is almost sounding like a 10s-of-thousands-of-dollars job... that is *not* what I was envisioning...  I mean, if I *have* to, I can just stick with the tarp-and-poles solution that we've used for the past 20 years or so...

So I'm back here at BiggerPockets again, looking for insight and wisdom... are architectural drawings really necessary for a job like this?  

And the big question: how do I select contractors (or whatever else is needed) for a job of this scale??

Okay, thank you all... I'm unfamiliar with 1031, so I'll do some reading on that...
Just as a side response to a couple of comments here, I did *not* live in this house, I was renting it out; it was my dad's house until he passed away a few years ago.

Mind ye, the reason I'm selling the house now is that I don't want to deal with rental issues any more, especially on a house that was 30 miles from mine... so if 1031 involves managing another house, I won't want to bother with it...

So, after 10+ years of renting my dad's house (I still call it that, though he passed away years ago), I am selling the house once the current tenants move out in a couple of months... y'all advised me very helpfully in finding an agent to work with me on that!!

Anyway, my cost basis is $1,500,000 (minus a few years of depreciation), and we expect it will probably sell for around $2,000,000, plus or minus some.

So what do you do with that big chunk of cash??  I presume it will initially just get dropped into whatever checking account I specify... my plan had always been to invest it in a couple of slightly-aggressive mutual funds and let it coast there (we don't immediately need the money for anything), but given the utter collapse in all stocks *and* bonds since beginning of year, there's no real way to select a desirable investment option at this point...

So what other options are available for dealing with this situation??