Chez 2.0 Is For Sale!!!

That's right folks, Chez 2.0 is for sale!!!

Many, many folks have been emailing me saying...did you see that your old house is for sale??

I honestly have not been back to look at the place at all since we sold it.

But today I went by to take a look and of course take a few pics.

This pic might say it all...

My First Impression

I like the new paint job, it looks right for the house. The new roof looks good.

Like the light hanging in the porch area, though it looks a little low to me.

They planted sod just in the front area.. just exactly as much as would be needed to take this pic...

Looking through the window in the bump-out I can see that they opened up a doorway between the kitchen and what was our TV room.

It looks like they already have staging furniture in the lower unit.

It also looks like they just put a clear coat on the concrete floor down there...which is weird, as that floor had a ton of cracks in it?

Here's another shot from a different angle.

They didn't kill the black bamboo on the right, that's nice.

The pomegranate on the front left corner is actually looking pretty good.

What I REALLY did not like seeing is they had several of the solid wood original doors laying around like they were destined for the junk pile...so, super lame if they are going to junk them in favor of some plastic, hollow-core pre-hung POS.

I didn't walk onto the property to take a look at anything else.

The neighbor on one side says they rebuilt the deck twice as deep as the existing deck and removed one of the doors to the outside in the back of the house.

Holy Crap!!

I just checked the redfin page and they have pics!!! I have to admit after looking at the pics that the place looks pretty darn good...

I can't believe that they were able to bring the floors back!?!?! Man, they were totally trashed I thought...wow those floors look pretty great.

Kitchen looks a little...uh, sparse let's say....

No pics of the master bath...

The bottom floor looks good with the stained concrete.

1310 Pacific Ave Alameda CA is no longer a MadMadScientist production.

People need to remember this when looking at the house. There is much, much more of the new owners in the house than us.

By my count the new owners had to.

1. Do a complete roof tear off and rebuild much of the roof framing before sheathing and reroofing.
2. Do a complete water supply re-piping.
3. Bring heat to the top floor somehow...I'm dying to know if they actually extended the warm water radiant heat to the top floor....
4. Gut and rebuild the main kitchen plus two other 'sorta kitchens'.
5. Build three new full baths.
6. Run the branch circuits on the top and bottom floors.
7. Rebuild the rear deck.
8. Insulate, weatherize drywall, paint, trim, all the finishes.

That's a lot of work not done by us.

Wow, it only took them 4 months!!

I'm pretty shocked at this...from the admittedly rough shape the house was in to this in four months...wow...I'm honestly wondering how you do that aggressive schedule and do decent quality work??? At least if someone would have bought it with the 203k program, it looks like it probably would've been possible to get it done in six months.

Tri-plex, Duplex, what-plex?

The house is being advertised as a single family residence, that's also a triplex??? I know why they are doing this..because its easier to sell and appraise a SFR than it is a tri-plex.  Problem is, is that it IS legally a tri-plex. Won't the appraiser and bank kinda insist on it being treated as such? Especially nowadays with super-strict loan rules?

The Price

Well, they have it listed at $725k....I don't honestly know how realistic that is...I know that the house is legally a 2702 sq ft 4-3 (because I did the work to make it so) so it's actually a pretty big place by Alameda standards, and is probably legally the biggest house in that neighborhood....I just don't know...seems a bit aggressive to me...

Potential Buyers of Chez 2.0

You can email me any questions about the house at the link on my profile page.

I hope they do an open house this weekend so we can walk through it and I will do an official review of the place....

What's Funny

If you type in the address of Chez 2.0 1310 Pacific Ave the second hit in Google is my joke review of the house...wonder how long it will be till the present owners try to force me to take it down???

The Upside?
Mrs. MadMadScientist had a good point. Now that its 'all done' all the people who thought that we were bug-nuts crazy for buying the place can finally see what we saw in it. To that also I'd like to ad that all the folks who walked through the place when we were trying to sell it and could only see what was wrong with it....now they can finally see it....cept its now going to cost them $225k more!

Would love to hear folks thoughts on Chez 2.0 in the comments.

Update
Just read the super awesome-amazing local paper....the house is open this weekend.
Weird hours though. Sat 12-2 and Sun 3-5.
C'mon everybody lets go!!!
Would love to hear peoples thoughts after they tour the house.

KnifeCatching 1310 Pacific Ave

Read This:The following review is just my opinion and only my opinion I am not a professional house appraiser or inspector and I am not a structural engineer. The opinions expressed in this review are based on my own inspection of the property, the publicly available facts from aggregator sites such as Redfin and Zillow and the online permit database for the city of Alameda. I am not responsible for incorrect or missing data that appears in these sources. In fact, its probably best that you just ignore everything you read here as the lunatic ravings of an unbalanced mind.

KnifeCatching* 1310 Pacific Ave Alameda CA
Up for review today is 1310 Pacific Ave which has the official specs of being a legal triplex with - - amount of bedrooms and baths and a ---- amount of square feet (but the for sale literature calls it a 4-3 of 2858 sq ft) on a 3500 sq ft lot built in 1897 on sale for $485,000

The house is an interesting Marcuse and Remmel. I just love the swoops and flares of the roofline.
I can see here that the foundation has already been redone!!! Hurray for home owners who have the sense to do the foundation first and I just love the antique brick driveway and walkway. I was completely fooled by the garage doors! They look like original antique swing out carriage doors but it is actually a modern roll up garage door. How Clever!!!

Walk up the stairs and come in the front door which appears original with original glass and the original working stained glass transom window and you have this entryway.
I applaud the home owners sense of style. Just look at this shabby chic entry way! I can only imagine what it must of cost to have artisans 'antique' the house. Oh, I hope the entire house is done in this shabby chic style. I hear it is quite the rage in NYC. With some multi-million dollar penthouse apartments done up to look like this.

Turn left from the entry and you have what was originally the formal parlour.
What an amazing room!!! From the in stock home depot carpets to the multiple outlets on the wall...how much do you want to bet that the home owners attention to detail means that only half of the outlets are working!

And look, the abandoned fish tank motif. I heard that Madonna paid big bucks to have a room done up in just this style. The home owners truly are amazing visionaries.

Next to the formal parlour is this room that would of been the formal dinning room. The contrasting fabric on the walls, the mantle set just so...even the blown light on the ceiling fan...wow, I think that this is the absolute best example of avant garde shabby chic I've seen anywhere.

Just look at this runner! Right off the rack at Home Depot!!! Look closer and see that its actually screwed down!!!

Seriously, how avant garde!!!

Here's the 'kitchen' from the doorway. Wow, if this is not the epitome of farm house shabby chic what is!

There is a good sized bedroom off the kitchen. Again, more fantastic shabby chic.

I feel compelled to stop right now and tell you something truly amazing about the house. When I was there viewing it the owners where there!!! They actually encouraged me taking pictures! They freely offered to answer any questions that I had about the house. I had a ton of questions and they appeared quite knowledgeable about the house and quite honest. WOW, what a refreshing change from the angry, duplicitous attitude I usually get from home owners and their Realtors... They even said, 'When selling a house you should be completely open and honest and forthright with all the details of the house.' How refreshing.

One more thing that really struck me about the owners....damn are they good looking...The husband with his long flowing hair, I bet he was a surfer...the wife with her pale skin and black hair, she is truly stunning...and the baby!! She redefines cute!!

Ascend the wonderfully period correct stairs to the top level of this manse and you are greeted by this amazing sight. The exposed wood work, the home depot carpet, the clawfoot tub just waiting to be filled with water. The owners have really captured the South of Market Artist Loft aesthetic here. I hear Justin Beiber has a room just like this!!!!

Continuing on to the other side of the top floor you have yet more South Of Market Hipness...Look at the single lonely ceiling light hanging by its wires. Tres Chic.

Can't you imagine sitting up here and banging out the next great American novel on your manual royal typewriter??

Exit the amazing main house and through a separate entrance we have this amazing space. Imagine yourself in your own art studio, with warm heated floors, creating your next masterpiece.

The brawny exposed woodwork subconsciously pushing your work in a more marketable masculine direction.

Did I mention just how amazingly attractive the owners are??? It's obviously still on my mind as I'm writing this.

Through this hallway, done up in some new post modern spare aesthetic is the rest of the bottom unit. Through the doorway on the left is,

A generously proportioned bedroom. I didn't have a tape measure on me but I estimate this room to be at least 2000sq ft.

Don't you just love how the bright blue of the empty electrical boxes plays of the brown of the exposed exterior sheathing? Visionary!

On the other side of the hallway is this masterpiece in the making, a bathroom. I simply adore the 'everything is still in boxes waiting to be installed' aesthetic. I hear Bill Gates has several rooms in his mansion done up like this!

Stepping through the doorway at the end of the hallway you'll feel like you've just stepped out into a Wonderland. A wonderland of stamped concrete and imposing metal sculptures. I've recently learned that along with being so darned pretty the owners are also famous artists.

Their pieces typically sell for many hundreds of thousands of dollars but they told me they might include some of the minor pieces with the house, for the right offer. They feel that the neighbors would miss the 30' fire balls...

Conclusion:
This house is an amazing find!!! New foundation, slab, amazing radiant heat, 200amp electrical service with subpanels on each floor, shockingly good looking current owners (I heard they were both models), the amazing, breath taking avant garde shabby chic atmosphere. So what if it still needs a little work!!! With a 203k loan the new owners can put their personal stamp on the property and have a personalized, customized home. All for less than it will be worth!!

Out of all the houses that I have reviewed, this house, I can say without a doubt, is in the best condition for the money and is by far and away the best deal on the market right now!!!

*Obviously this is a joke review if you can't see that take a deeeeep breath and stop taking yourself so seriously.