All Forum Posts by: Rick Bradd

I think just stating that disclaimer is all you can do, if someone is going to jump into the deep end before they know how to swim you can not stop them. As long as you warn them and are not shoving them, what else can you do?

It shows good character that you worry about us stumbling, thank you. But the bottom line is we want to learn from you. Do what you think is best, but I for one would appreciate your efforts if you did move forward with this idea.

Just my .02
Rick

I will be first in line to buy the textbook version! Go for it Bill, really would be an awesome to learn from the master, then to also be able to ask questions of the author here on BP too.

I am planning on selling a property and doing a 1031 exchange, I have a couple of questions that I have not been able to figure out from the many other threads on this topic.

The property I am selling has a higher value than the property I intend to buy, can any portion of the profit I get be held as a reserve for the new property, for instance if I have 250K, can I use 225K as the down payment and keep back 25k as reserves?
I ask because my reserve fund will need to be beefed up to cover the new property expenses and its about half of what I am comfortable with.

Any tips on what I should be looking for when I select a Qualified Intermediary?

Thanks in advance, hope everyone is having a happy Memorial Day, and a special shout out to those of you that are, or have served, we sincerely appreciate you.

Rick

Hello Eric,
Welcome to BiggerPockets. Lots of good info here, hopefully you will post and add to the knowledge base. No one picks on contractors too much, in fact, most everyone here appreciates hearing from the contracting side, good having more 805 reps here.
Rick

Opps, lol, I could have sworn I saw a picture of a basement, scratch that post.

iPad auto correct, that's supposed to say Porte cochere, or carport I guess I should have said.

I have been thinking about your drawing , instead of having the driveway extend all the way to the back of the property why not build an ell at the master bedroom, make port couchette and have a mid house entrance, move the laundry to the basement and the master bath where the laundry is. Then have a hallway that extends from the midpoint of the kitchen are to the back deck.

Probably have to move something's around, and incur some more costs but you will gain 8 feet of width and add an egress to the back.

Just a thought.
Rick

Looks like a nice enough backyard, I would want to get to it without everyone marching through the master, maybe you have a side door planned but I did not see it. Will there be a garage? I like how you have the mechanicals like plumbing for the second floor lined up with the downstairs bath and Laundry room, the shower is the only thing on the sketch that is on its own island.

I might also suggest to add a second deck to the upstairs back bedroom? Can not really tell if there is a view from there so might not be worth it. Where I live everything is about outdoor spaces, outdoor living etc, its all the rage right now, not sure if its the same in your area though, so take my suggestions with a grain of salt.

Looking forward to following your progress, thanks for doing this, its very cool of you and your partner to share your time and experience.

You are absolutely correct. In hindsight I really wish I had never tried to get it corrected, I did so on the advice of a realtor that I respect. In our minds, this was a necessary in order to list it with the proper number of rooms and sq footage. The realtor told me he would have to use the actual county records for the description, so of course I wanted this to be accurate for a buyer who was comparing homes. Again, it is a hot market and I over thought this.

Lesson learned.......

Jon Holdman
Wow, good advise there, I read the thread you posted and I want to avoid that for sure. The assessors office contacted building safety and asked them to fax over the permit, that is how they became involved. We then got a call from the building safety office and went over several details with them, including the names of the two inspectors who signed off on the work. He knew them both and said they are no longer working for the county/city, but he agreed to dig deeper to find the permit. He called back and said he could not find it, Deborah asked him point blank if we could sell it with out the permit and he said as long as you disclose that fact it is fine. He did mention it could come back at us at a later date, pretty vague statement.

@Wayne
We had good intentions from day one, and the Building safety guy noted that, to the point he agreed to reach out to the former inspectors, there may be an outside chance the permit was just never properly filed, but it seems very slim.

Bill Gulley
This contractor has put his license into "suspense" which I think means he kept the license but is not active. He was a terrific craftsman but a lousy business man, we seriously doubt he will be of any help to us.

Your point about the inspections is exactly what I thought, how did they sign off on the work if it was unpermitted? Deborah was there when they dug the ground back to expose the footings, the two electrical outlets in the wall were signed off on. I have to say, looking at this "card" that was posted while the work was being done is like looking at chinese handwriting. The notes are nearly illegible.

One more fact, Deborah got a loan from the city to do this work ( the good old days before she married me), part of a city revitalization program, so the city actually paid the contractor, how is that for irony? We have refinanced and paid them off, but still.

I wrote the addition was 40 sq feet by accident, it was 120 sq ft, average sales here are $225 - $270 sq ft, hence one of the reasons we started this with the assessor's office to begin with.

I think this will all workout fine, there is very little inventory in this area and top dollar is being paid. My realtor says many are cash offers with no contingencies, so as long as we disclose we should be fine.

I will post here if I learn any thing else, but the lesson I am taking away from this is to always ASK is the Scope of Work is really done.

Thanks again all.
Rick