Second Open House Also A Smashing Success And We Got Our First Offer!!!

Double Yahoo!!! Second Open Went Great Also!

The open was scheduled to run from 1-4pm but our Realtor ended up getting there early because the BayFarm bridge was set to be closed. He had all the open house signs up by shortly after 12pm. Then he says he was mobbed with people between noon and 1pm!!! Yay!!! I like it that people appear to be interested enough in the house to want to get there early! He ended up staying till almost 5pm because people kept coming!!! Like to hear that no?

The Run Down

Our Realtor told us it was about the same amount of people as last weeks open ~35 different groups. He did say that at the beginning it was mostly the neighbors begging him to not sell the house to people who are going to turn it into a tri-plex...the neighbors feel very strongly about that... We had several return visitors which I think is also encouraging. One PB(Potential Buyer) was there before 1pm, came back mid-open and then made an appointment to see the house today!! I definitely feel that when PB's do stuff like this, that its encouraging.

Same, Most Asked Question...

Our Realtor said he spent almost the entire time explaining what a 203k loan was and what it covers and how it works....he said he explained this over, and over, and over, and over and over....I can tell that by the end of the almost 5 hrs he was there that he was a little tired of explaining it. There was one couple who was there for quite some time and the wife kept coming back and asking him questions about what the 203k loan covers over and over again...until her husband finally put it in a nutshell. The husband said, 'You buy the house, and its completely redone before you move in!!!'

203k Loan Elevator Pitch

Since we are still having so much trouble getting across what the 203k loan does exactly I've been trying to work up an elevator pitch to help explain it. It needs to go something like this, ' With the 203k loan you roll your remodeling costs into your home loan and in six months you move into a redone home.' or slightly longer, 'The 203k loan is perfect for buying a fixer, because you roll the remodeling costs into your house loan and within six months you move into a redone home and, really, what banks are writing remodeling loans now a days?' or...?

We Got Our First Offer!!!

On Tuesday just 2 days after the first open! Unfortunately we could not come to a meeting of the minds on the terms but hey, at least we got an offer!! But interestingly enough the folks who wrote the first offer were back at the house this weekend looking it over again! Hmmmmm...

We Might Be Selling The Chez.....

It is with a heavy heart and mixed emotions that I bring you, dear readers this news...There is a very slim chance that we'll be selling the Chez..... We sorta put an offer on a house and we're waiting for the sellers to come to their senses and agree to it.....

In the meantime, we gotta figure out how in the heck you sell a house that's mid project....we were totally down in the dumps about the prospects of selling such a 'unique' property. We figured that real estate investors with their all cash offers would be our only option until we learned about this newish HUD loan called a 203k.

The 203K Loan
I just learned about it but it seems to be just the ticket for our situation.
Its a government backed loan where you get to roll the cost of the house, the cost to fix up the house AND the first six months of the mortgage payments into the loan and being an FHA loan they only require a 3.5% down payment.

Here's a good article from sfgate that explains it better than I can.
Here's a link to the HUD website that also explains the 203k program.
Here's a link to the HUD website where you can search for a local lender experienced with the 203k loan process.

The 203k is an FHA loan so there is some additional hoops the buyer has to jump through of course.

I spoke to several different local 203k loan experts and I got the best vibe from this guy.

Luis C. Munoz
Renovation Loan Specialist
Mason-McDuffie Mortgage Corp
6472 Moraga Ave
Oakland, CA 94611
1 510 825-0300 Cell
1 866 958-1869 E-Fax
www.luiscmunoz.com

This is not an endorsement exactly, but Luis offered to make a house call to help me figure out how to best sell this place through the 203k program and I thought that was going above and beyond. If after reading the info above you are seriously interested in the 203k program I suggest you call Luis as he's local, knows the market, and seemed very knowledgeable on the subject. Tell Luis, Chez Neumansky sent you.

Why the 203k Program Seems So Great
Its a program for moderate income folks, to give them a chance to move to a house/neighborhood that they couldn't afford otherwise.
With this loan, you only have to come up with the 3.5% down payment and then when the first mortgage payment is due after the first six months, you rent out the bottom 1000sq ft apartment. That's gotta take a decent bite outta the mortgage no?
You get a 2000sq ft 3bed 2 bath house to live in and a 1000sq ft apartment to help pay your expenses.

Why You Should Want the Chez!

Its a super-cool interesting looking house.
Its in a good neighborhood 4 houses down from Little John park.
It's in the Franklin school district.
Its a legal 3000sq ft triplex. You can keep it as a triplex, or, do what we were going to do and turn the top 2 floors into a single family home and rent out the bottom floor apartment, or, turn the entire place into a giant 3000sq ft single family residence.
The foundation-slab-earthquake retro-fitting are already done!
Electrical service upgrade to 200amps with 100amp sub-panels on each floor.
Upgraded the gas service also and re-piped the gas lines.
And on, and on, and on, really, just be prepared to kill several hours and read this blog.

Its got a super fab radiant heating system installed on the bottom two floors.

The coolest outdoor entertaining area with built in fire pit!

Readers
If you know of anyone who wants to do the 'move to Alameda and restore an old Victorian and raise their kids in a safe environment with good schools' thing, please, please forward this post to them. They have to qualify for the FHA loan remember.

Realtors
I know a bunch of Alameda based Realtors read this blog.
C'mon, I bet you have a couple of clients who might be interested in the Chez. Forward em this post. Its a win-win, we get to sell the house AND if we buy a new place I don't have any need to keep doing my real estate reviews that you love so much, I'm talking about you Alain Pinel Realty.

What's it Going to Cost?
That's the question on every bodies minds isn't it.....
Short answer...we don't have any idea yet....
We do know it will be priced lower than what we paid for it in March '07 AND it will be literally several hundred thousand dollars less than we have into the place....HURRAY!!!

If you are interested in knowing more.
Please email the Madscientist at the link provided on the blog.

Remember the house is not for sale at this time!
We are just trying to gauge interest with this posting.

Thanks,
D&I