Hey All,Hailing from NYC.I'm in the industry as a expediter (permits,violations), contractor, vendor(photography,floorplans,3D Virtual Tours) and soon to be licensed RE agent. 

Retail is about 190k I probably could get it for 175k maybe 170k.

Also, uneducated consumers and industry “professionals” tend to spread incorrect information and theories.

The construction cost has been soaring in the last 3 years in the Bay area (I work in the corporate construction industry and our project management office is forecasting 10% fee escalation in all of the MEP trades in this year).

You are certainly paying retail with those numbers.

I think a TK review site is definitely needed in this industry.  

I'm also new to this and working full time in a totally separate industry so I feel the pain.

The construction cost has been soaring in the last 3 years in the Bay area (I work in the corporate construction industry and our project management office is forecasting 10% escalation in all of the MEP trades in this year).

@Christopher Rogers As I understand it the problem you run into with these is the loan is attached to the property taxes as an assessment, so a bank will not loan on the property because they would be in second position.I have never seen the subordinate clause at the end there and don't know how that would work.If you take the buyers perspective, they also want it paid off because they are paying full retail for an updated house, then are making payments on the upgrades for years.

I am currently building my knowledge base for investing and have begun some initial steps towards networking futures relationships within the industry.