The Grillanator

I blame this entire post on the medication I'm on for the two bulged discs in my back.

Its All Mrs. MadMadScientists Fault!
She forced me to buy a new BBQ grill because she considered the old one to be unsafe....
I just considered it uh, unique and customized.

After much looking and researching I realized that we can't really afford a good grill....a decent grill that will last cost's around $600....

Enter Craig's List.
Saw an add for what looked like a very fancy BBQ. Did some research and yep its a very fancy BBQ. Seems that a failed bio-tech company in Redwood City was trying to liquidate their assets and this grill was one of em. They told me it was used once a week to cook burgers for 50 people for slightly less than a year...and it was never, ever cleaned....I had no idea what that was going to mean at the time...

My New Baby

I borrowed a friends little truck and headed off to a nice business park right on the water, to take a look.
WOW, its not actually the model I was told on the phone...its the next model up!!! In fact, its the fanciest model the company makes!!! I was so flustered I didn't even try to haggle I just wanted the mega grill for mega cheap! Got the grill for $400 and three full 20 pound propane tanks for an additional $100!!!
One thing I didn't notice at the time was that the thing doesn't even come with a side burner!?!?!

Oh, So Grungy!!!
Check out these pics.

There was a thick layer of grease on everything..in all the cracks, everywhere!
The grease was not the main issue though, it was the thick, up to 1/4" layer of carbon that was on everything inside the grill...so a thick layer of grease was covering a thicker layer of carbon...

I found the manual online and read the cleaning instructions....only allowed to use a mild detergent and a non-abrasive scrubbing pad!?!?!?!?!? No oven cleaner, nothing with bleach....geez...

Cleaning Up The Mofo
Here's my selection of cleaning gear on top of our old BBQ.

I decided to take the grill apart and soak all the nasty bits in a solution of Simple Green and water.

I soaked this stuff for a full 36+ hours....
The simple green did clean all the grease but it didn't even touch the hard carbon deposits...

While the stuff was soaking I went at the main grill inside and out.

The simple green worked great on the outside of the grill and helped a little bit on the inside.

The Final Solution
Someone mentioned it to me as a joke to use an angle grinder on it...
Well that's exactly what I decided to do. I got a wire cup brush that is supposed to be safe to use on stainless steel.
Well, it worked like a charm. I was able to clean off the grates, the burners, the veggie rack, the flame tamer things, and most of the inside of the BBQ! I didn't even realize that there are lights in the lid because they were covered with a thick layer of carbon.
Most of the metal looked like new except blued from the heat.
Of course myself and the surrounding ground was covered in black powder....just the thing you want to have happen before a party...

All Clean (sorta)
Cause I'm a total idiot I forgot to take pics of the grill after it was all cleaned up and polished....
Here's how it looked after cooking food for 40 this past weekend.

In Conclusion
Here's what I think after using the grill...
I don't get how this thing is worth $5k....its nice for sure but wow I don't think its
that nice. I don't know if anybody needs a grill this big.
But, even after spending an entire day cleaning it, I still think it was worth what I paid for it.
I really like the super-hot sear burner.
On the main part of the grill the heat was very even.
It took a loooong time to heat the thing up and with the lid open it cools down pretty fast.
Don't know when I'm going to feel the need to cook 4 chickens on the rotisserie.
There is a lot of acreage on the grill but I used most of it during the party.
Compared to our old Costco grill its obviously more upscale and better made with thicker metal and more burners/ sq ft.
At this price point I'd think that it would be made from 316 Stainless as opposed to 304.
It's lame that there is no side burner. Called the local BBQ's Galore store and they said it wasn't possible to retrofit a burner!?!?!?! Huh???
I had to switch out the propane tank in the grill for a new one because it was icing up and lost most of its pressure.

Still though, totally worth it for $500! Thanks Craig's List!!!

Crown Point Cabinetry Quote

Okay got our 'final' Crown Point Cabinetry Quote for our 'Dream Kitchen'.
I say 'final' in quotes because this is as good as we're going to get from them without paying them their design fee.
In my opinion the following information is not really enough to fairly judge Crown Point against their competitors but I have to try as this is the best I'm going to get right now.

Quality Details
First I want to talk about Crown Points Quality.
In response to my questions about their exact joinery methods and materials they sent me this same pdf twice.

Then a bunch of back and forth with more questions.
My questions are in black their answers in blue and my thoughts on their answers in red.
Yay colors!

Most of our joinery methods are mortise and tenon joinery. Our drawers are fully dovetailed and have ½” bottoms and full extension, softclose slides.

How thick is the face frame and what joinery technique is used? ( I believe it is 1” solid wood with long mortise and tenon joinery)

That is correct. Please see this link to a You Tube shop tour we prepared. It gives you additional information. http://youtu.be/vpDnGI5ENU4

What are the materials and thickness of wood used in the drawer boxes? What is the joinery technique for drawer sides?How thick is the drawer bottom and how is it attached to the drawers.

We use 5/8” rock maple for sides, dovetail joinery and ½” maple plywood bottoms let into the four sides of the box.

What is the grade and thickness of the plywood used for the cabinet carcasses?

We use 7 ply maple plywood, ½” thick for carcasses. It has a UV coating.

What is the joinery technique used for the carcasses?

The sides of our cabinet are let into the face frame. We use glue.

Finally, where do you source your wood from?

Many different sources.
Weak, when I company won't tell you exactly where their stuff comes from doesn't that always mean that they are 'not proud' of it?

Is it sustainably sourced?

I’m not sure how closely we track this. I know that we will not sell Honduras mahogany because of depletion issues. Also, our source of alder was diminishing so we dropped alder altogether.

At this price point this should be a well known thing I think.

Seems like they hit all the high quality cabinet marks. I am convinced that these folks make an excellent product, at least from the specs.

What's In The Quote
Not as easy to answer as I'd hoped.

Wow, $32 or $34k depending on when we order.
Their quote came back with this description.

We prepared your quote using 1” beaded inset construction. The door style is Cambridge and the drawer style is Windsor (photos attached). The wood is sapele with a stain and a baked on top coat and sealer. There is hardware included in the quote. We do not send the hardware loose. It arrives attached to the cabinetry. The hardware I included in your quote is antique brass bin pulls, knobs and hinges. Other features in your quote include two piece crown over the cabinetry, cutlery dividers, double trash pullout, two super susan bases, finished ends and decorative toes on two of the cabinets. Your quote total also includes blanket wrapped delivery to, Alameda, CA.

That's it! but with two pretty pictures of the doors.

I responded with something like, Wow, you hit the nail on the head with stain, wood and door style we love it...but we don't think this is enough info to be able to compare.
This was their response.

I understand. I think it is difficult to make an exact comparison without drawings. I’ll share as much as possible with you concerning your layout but as you know I cannot give you the floor plan or elevations.

·        Most of the wall cabinets are 44” high.

·        The 6” gap from the top of the cabinets to the ceiling is to be covered by two pieces of crown. I have attached a diagram showing the two pieces combined. The diagram shows an overall height of 6” but in reality yours would be 6 ½” high because the bottom piece has to overlap the top rail of the wall & tall cabinetry by ½”.

·        The wall cabinet over the sink has a nice arch built into the bottom rail.

·        The sink cabinet is a “combination cabinet”. It is a sink cabinet with double doors on the left. On the right it has a drawer with a silverware divider and below that a pullout door with a single trash receptacle.  It also has a Victorian decorative toe. There is a super susan on the far right and a raised panel (for the side of the dishwasher) on the far left.  There wall cabinets on the sink wall include 3 butt door cabinets and a 90 degree corner cabinet.

·        The range wall has roomy wall cabinets. There is also a shorter wall cabinet over the hood. There is a 3 drawer base cabinet on either side of the range. One of them has a utensil divider in the top drawer.

·        In the fridge area, we have “buried” the fridge into the little closet area. We’ve included sturdy tall return panels for both sides of the fridge. There is also a wall cabinet over the fridge. There is a good sized wall cabinet and a base with a super susan to the right of the fridge.

·        The pass through wall has a large 2 door/2 drawer base with Victorian decorative toes and two full extension roll outs behind the doors. To the right of that is a shallow base with butt doors and a full extension drawer.

I hope this helps with your research.
Now this is better and helps me build a mental picture of what I'm getting but still...geez a floor plan and a couple of elevations would be really helpful...
She did send a couple of pictures of the crown detail....

Conclusion
We don't have enough info on all three quotes yet to make 'The Decision' but...
I believe that these folks do make a super high quality cabinet that you have to pay more for.
I wish that they would release more info at this stage their estimated design fee is $560 and for that I'd get the full blown fancy done up plan I guess. When you're talking about $30k+ in cabinets it seems a little penny wise pound foolish to me for them to quibble over some details that would really truly help us make an informed decision for ~$500.

This quote is twice the Kraftmaid quote....which means we're going to have to figure out a way to fairly compare the different levels of quality/prices to make 'The Choice'.

Deck Project Planning

Alright, while we are waiting the 3-4 weeks for our kitchen cabinets and exhaust hood we need to focus on getting the deck up to snuff...and when I say up to snuff I mean untrucking all the wacky stuff the PO did and bringing it up to modern code. From what we can tell the deck was built around 5 years ago, which means its built with the extra nasty PT wood.
What I think that mostly means is;
   Adding risers to the stairs.
   Changing out ALL the non-PT rated hardware, bolts, washers, screws, nails, joist hangers...etc...hurray!
   Adding code compliant hand rails to the stairs.

Here's how the deck looks from afar.

Pretty big and impressive isn't it?
Now, lets look a little closer...help me figure out what needs to be replaced and how?

First there are no risers to either run of stairs.

This run has 6 1/8" clear between the treads.

This run has 6" clear between the treads.

I need to put in a riser that passes the 4" sphere rule.
Does anybody have any opinions on the best way to do that?
I think a single PT 2by4 would work and pass the 4" rule and allow some light to pass through.
I'm sorta thinking if it was centered in the opening it would be best.
I have PT rated pocket screws. Would two in each end and into the beefy 4by12 carriage be a strong beefy connection?

It also looks like I'll have to replace all the treads in the lower section that are not PT as they are showing signs of rotting...

Speaking of Stairs.
The PO used some sort of bracket that is not a Simpson Bracket and I don't know anything about it.

Unknown stair bracket.

The bracket itself doesn't appear to be rusting but those bolts sure do...and I believe you have to fill every single hole with these brackets.

Nails
The PO really, really, liked nails...

None of these nails should be rusting if they are of the correct type right?
So, I think I have to replace every single (if its actually doing anything useful) rusting out nail with something else.
I'd like to replace them all with PT rated structural screws from McFeelys, does that sound reasonable?

Corroded Structural Bolts
Notice how rusted the washers are. The bolts don't look so bad but I haven't backed one out yet to see...I'm afraid too..

 Look at all the rusting out nails holding this stuff together. Are they even required with the bolts in place? Seems to me that the nails are mostly just chewing up the wood.

Whats a PT rated joist hanger?

Or hanger nail?

None, of the fricken joist hangers are PT rated...just standard hangers and they are starting to rot pretty well, some are actually green and fuzzy from corrosion...It also bugs me a bit that they use hangers for 2by6's on 2by8's and 10's.

Questions: (remember that this is a one man operation)
Is everything that is rusting after 5 years need to be replaced? IE, the correct hardware would not be doing this right?
What's the best way to remove and replace the joist hangers? I've got slightly over 50 to do!
What's everybody think of my idea to remove the rusting out nails and replace them with PT rated structural screws?
Best way to add a riser to the stairs? Does my idea sound reasonable?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Yes, I know that the most sensible thing to do is to tear the entire thing down and do it right from the beginning but we don't have the money or time for that.

Home Despot Cabinet Quote

Just got back from my third appointment with the Home Despot kitchen designer.
We think we've got it all figured out and this is our final, best KraftMaid version of our kitchen.
We've decided on the Englewood door style in Cherry wood and 48" high upper cabinets, the tallest KraftMaid makes...which caused us a couple of problems...their 'best' construction option APC, which is all plywood finished ends and nice pulls and handles and crown and light rail and, and, and,.....seems like it goes on for ever...

First, The Floor Plan

Looks pretty familiar doesn't it? They basically got everything we wanted to fit to fit with a minimum of filler panels. Kraftmaid can only do cabinets in 3" width increments so I was worried about this. Also, the upper corner cabinet only came in the angled front design in the 48" height...not supper happy about that and it doesn't have lazy Susan's in it? All the next sizes down do..what up wit dat?

Now Some Pretty Pics.

This view is standing at the stove corner and looking back at the kitchen.

This view is standing at the corner near the fridge and looking back at the kitchen.

We hadn't thought of a farmhouse sink before but we like the idea but in stainless of course.

View of the pantry.

Seems like none of the designers I spoke with could figure out anything more clever than shelves in the pantry. The narrow width and sloping ceiling are stumping them. These shelves and brackets will match the cabinets exactly. What I will have to do is stair step the shelves (not shown) up the wall.

What's It Gonna Cost???
Take a guess....its actually less than I thought.

Kraftmaid and Home Despot are actually running a couple of specials right now...we got the crown molding, the sink base and trash base all for free!!!

The total without discounts $20803.09!!!!
The total with discounts is $14263.20!!!! and that includes shipping and tax.
We knew that quality kitchen cabinets are not cheap but this actually seems pretty reasonable to me....its not pocket change that's for sure but it does seem reasonable.

Next Up
Where's the designs and quotes from the two other guys???

Kitchen Cabinet Quotes

Okay so we think we have a design for the kitchen that we like...now the big question is, how much are these cabinets going to cost???
To that end we've sent out our best design idea to three different cabinet 'shops'.
We sent them these three diagrams, which all of you have seen before....

The bare walls only version.

The closets and appliance list.

Our Best Idea

Then you have to write an essay about what type of people you are and how you use the kitchen....this is what ours looked like.

Background Data:

The ceiling height is 9’ exactly.

We generally prefer the cabinets go all the way to the ceiling.
We like crown molding and light rail molding on our cabs also.

We are not a multiple cook household really. It’s just me cooking with maybe someone else helping prep.

We are not BIG BAKERS but we bake sometimes. So, I don’t need a dedicated baking station but I need somewhere to put a reasonable amount of baking supplies.

The kitchen is in the center of the house so there are no windows or skylights.

We do use the breakfast bar all the time to actually eat at and at parties we put the drinks up there and people can sit there and watch me cook without getting in the way. We don’t have to keep that exact breakfast bar set up but we need something like it.

We’re looking for a kitchen that will look ‘right’ in our Victorian house. Something that will look good now and 40yrs from now. No avocado green or harvest gold please.

My wife likes the furniture look with the feet and what not..but she hates to see exposed hinges…yes I know its contradictory.

In the floor plan that has the cabinets. That is our current fav layout that we’ve come up with but we encourage you to ‘think outside the box’ with your design. The only wall that can be adjusted/removed though is the wall where we inset the fridge.

We need to use the odd shaped pantry closet well. We need somewhere to store our bulk goods and small kitchen appliances.

The smaller broom closet, we are at a loss as to what to do with it.

Hopefully that’s enough info to get you started.
Please email me a PDF of your plans and I promise to study them and get back to you with our comments-changes quickly.

The three places we have chosen to get quotes from are Home Despot for Kraftmaid cabinets, Precision Cabinets & Trim and Crown Point Cabinetry. We believe that cost/quality wise the Kraftmaids will be on the low end, then Precision and then Crown Point.

We've asked them all to start with our design and quote it in stained maple and cherry, no paint, no beating the cabinets with chains.

Let me go through what I know so far about the different options.

Home Despot
Ya, I know, its Home Despot...but Kraftmaid only sells their cabinets through dealers and Home Despot is my closest dealer and they do the design and quote for free! Used to be $50 refundable when you bought cabinets. We've used these cabinets before and found the quality to be good as long as you upgrade to the all plywood construction and the good drawer slides and hinges.
The designer appears more competent than the last one we used. She says that she is one of the last of the 'old guard' she's been working for HD for 12 yrs and when she started you had to go to kitchen design school for two months before they would let you near a customer....she says they dropped that policy a while ago and now they just hire people who supposedly already have the experience...you know how that goes....
So, this is the 'known quantity' option the bench mark that we will judge the other against.
I have an appointment with them on Tues to see what they've come up with.

Precision Cabinets & Trim
Precision Cabinets & Trim is a localish (friggen Brentwood) cabinet company with a full CNC cabinet shop. This means that they can basically build cabinets in any size. When we were going to do the super cool kitchen in Chez 2.0 this was the place that we picked. We are working with the same designer who doesn't appear to be cheezed off that we sold the house instead of buying his cabinets. This place also includes installation with their quote. Actually, I don't think you can get it any other way as they want to control the product from start to finish. This is a philosophy that I like, you have one company to go to for any issues. They are supposed to have a quote to me by Wednesday.

Crownpoint Cabinetry
Crownpoint Cabinetry is similar to Precision as it is a full custom CNC shop. This is the company that advertises in every single home magazine that I read. They say that they are furniture grade cabinets that will last a lifetime. By all rights this should be the high-end super high quality option. They are not local which means I'm going to have to pay to ship their cabinets from the East coast.....that can't be cheap...They also don't do a full design for free....they want 2% of the total cabinet costs...they will do a rough draft estimate and quote for free though...so that is what they are doing for me. I am supposed to have it by this Thursday.

Our plan is to try to get all three places to quote the same kitchen as closely as possible and then pick a winner from there.

Quality Comparison
I don't know enough yet about the exact materials and construction methods of the three places to do an honest comparison. None of them make it easy to know this information, so I'm still working on it.

Some of the qualities that I believe make a good cabinet are.

1. Solid Wood face frames at least 3/4" thick-joinery method, not sure about.
2. Cabinet boxes made out of furniture grade plywood. Which I think means at least 7ply and 1/2" sides, bottom, top and back. Not sure on best joinery method here either.
3. Solid wood drawer boxes with dovetail joints-not sure about the thickness of the drawer bottom.
4. High quality full extension soft close under mount drawer slides and high quality soft close hinges.

So, did I miss any thing?
Does anybody have any idea about what the best joinery methods are?
Next Up
The Home Despot Quote.....

KnifeCatching 1118 Grand St.

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 1118 Grand St.

Up for review today is 1118 Grand St. which has the official specs of being a 2-2 of 1973sq ft on a 3150sq ft lot built in 1900 on sale for $699k last sold I-don't-know-when, its been in the same family for a looooooong time.

The listing company has a web page on the house where you can see lots of pics.
Here's something I find odd....the main Real Estate web sites don't even say the house is for sale? How is that possible? Someone seems to be asleep at the wheel.

The story of the house is pretty familiar for Alameda. The house was lived in for a loooong time by an elderly person who has passed and the heirs are selling it. I don't know if the recent owner died in the house or what.

The house looks like it was defiantly a grand home back when it was new.
There is a lot of fancy trim and molding on the exterior and interior of the house.
The interior appears to be mostly original and in decent but slightly dirty condition...c'mon heirs, scrub the place out and slap a coat of paint on it.
Woulda made the place look a ton better.

The bedrooms are on the top floor along with an oddly laid out bathroom. There is also an illegal bathroom off the back of the house. It looks like that at some point in the 70's the kitchen and back room were redone...unfortunately at this time the original mantle was removed!?!?!
The bedrooms on the top floor where of a good size and one even had a closet.
There is a sun porch with laundry hook-ups.

Some Fun Details
For some reason a couple of the bedroom doors had been converted to dutch doors.

Trim detail on the stairs.

Nook in the Master Bedroom.

Nice Closet.

The Good
Its all original for the most part! Only the back has been remuddled.
The location is close to Franklin Park and School.

The A tag is where the house is.

The backyard, while small, was nice.
Hardwood floors that look like they are still in good shape.

The Bad
Its all original it needs everything.
While the house is close to some good stuff its also on one of the busiest streets and therefore loudest streets in town.
On brick foundation.
Needs a new roof.
Has a 40amp stab-loc panel...can you say fire hazard?
Needs all new systems-elec,plumbing, heat, etc.
The lot seems small for the 'hood at 3150sq ft.
No garage.
No master bathroom and an illegal bathroom on the main floor just off the kitchen.

Price
Ha, well this price might not be as ridiculous as some but I still think it needs uh, adjusting.
For the house that needs everything.
New foundation = $100k
New Roof = $35k
Upgrade to 200amp service and rewire house = $20k
Repipe House from galv to copper = $10k
Remodel fugly 70's kitchen = $20k at least.
Add a master bath = $10k at least
New HVAC = $5k
Did I forget anything?
The total for that is $200k min...but that's still for only a 1973 sq ft house.
So, assuming you could sell this place all done up for $800k (a big ass-sumption) that puts a sensible price at more like $600k.

Conclusion

This house could be really great with just a little bit of loving...well...it depends on how much you love your kids. You could just go in, scrub the place out, redo the floor, repair the walls (plaster is failing in several spots) and repaint and you'd have (on the surface) a pretty nice house. Not safe, but pretty, this would be 'the flipper way'

What I'd do is bite the bullet and have the basement dug out completely and redo the foundation adding a garage under the front of the house. Maybe turn some of the basement into legal living space.

Then upgrade all the mechanicals and roof and enjoy a nice safe house in a good neighborhood.

One of the things I do when I review the house is hang around and check out the types of folks who are looking at the house. In this instance there were two distinct types of folks.

1. The young couple with a small child looking for a place that they can afford and put some serious sweat equity into.

2. The illegal contractors-real estate investor-flipper types.....this was a bit troubling to me as to how many of these types of people where there...Its troubling because I know exactly what these guys are going to do, gut the place to the studs trashing all the original details and doing a homedespot makeover on the place...and still not do the foundation and then turn around and try to sell it for $900k...

The sellers seem to be courting the first group with info on 203k loans on their website.

Please 'young couple with small child who wants to put in a ton of sweat equity into the place', buy the house PLEASE!!!

And that's the way I see it.

KnifeCatching 1007 Morton St.

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 1007 Morton St.

Up for review today is 1007 Morton St. which has the official specs of being a 4-3.5 of 2811sq ft on an 7500sq ft lot built in 1898 on sale for $1.359M!?!?!? Last sold in 06 for $1,330,000. The house has been on the market for 17 days with no price drops yet. I've been calling this the 'stealth listing' as there is no sign on the house and they've only had one open house.
Since I didnt' think that they were going to have any open houses I actually talked to a couple of the houses neighbors who have lived there for 20+years and knew the previous owner well. When they both heard what the current owners were asking for the place they both said, 'Wow, they must of put a ton of work into the place...it needed everything....' foreshadowing... Both neighbors also offered up the info that they thought that the garage had been converted into a rental unit on the sly.

The Realty company showing the house has a nice website done up for it. Lots of nice pictures and a refreshing amount of actual info. I suggest you go there post haste and check out the pics, especially the night shot of the front of the house with the lights on....ARTY!

Super-Fab Street View

 The house shows super well from the street. It looks great and has very pretty grounds front and back, with a chicken coop in the backyard (how trendy). The house has the two main floors plus a finished basement with a bath and a decent sized attic. The house is bigger than the official specs of 2800sqft as that number does not include the basement or attic living space...
The two main floors are still very original with NO PAINTED WOODWORK!!!!! Hurray!!!! Really, the interior of this place is just stunning. So much beautiful wood and original details.
Its got a great front porch with an original looking stained glass window.

The Good
This place has location, location, location. It's located on one of the nicest blocks in the Gold Coast right across the street from Franklin Park in the Franklin school district.
Gorgeous woodwork!
Large house.
New foundation done in 92!
Elec service was upgraded in 98.
A bathroom was added with permits in 98.

Location Baby!

The A tag is basically the location of the house. You can see Franklin park and the school at top.
Really, a great, safe location to raise kids.

The Bad

The kitchen looks like its the original cabinets with new counter tops. I don't think that the existing kitchen would be considered up to snuff for folks buying in this price range.

The roof was last done in 87! and it looks to be in bad shape to me. From the attic I could see the original shakes so that means the place needs a complete tear off, sheathing and reshingling....

Unpermitted Work Issues....

Isn't there always?

I've searched the permit record several times and several things jump out at me.

The permit record doesn't say anything about converting the basement to legal living space.

Here's a picture of the basement.

Does that look like unimproved storage space to anyone?

The attic is only reached by the steepest and most treacherous flight of old house stairs that I've been on in a while....which is fine for a storage space....

Does that look like storage space?

The add copy calls this building the office.

Its the old garage converted to well, it looks like a separate rental unit to me.

I don't see anything on the permit record that would support this building as legal.

It is nice on the inside with a kitchen, full bath and a sleeping loft....

Since the current owners have lived there these are the only permits on file.

E07-0085 Electrical Permit FINALED DANIOS ELECTRIC 04/04/2007 05/01/20

Work Description:

REPLACE FED. PACIFIC SUBPANEL; REMOVE KNOB & TUB IN ATTIC STORAGE AREA; AND ADD NEW LINE IN BATHROOM (2

GFCI RECEPTACLES & 1 CIRCUIT) (NO PLANS REQ'D PER GC)

P07-0453 Plumbing Permit Issued A T WEBER PLUMBING 11/16/200

Work Description:

*PRE-1942* INSTALL DEDICATED 1/2" GAS LINE FROM METER TO NEW FIREPLACE APPLIANCE

Maybe all these unwarranted improvements where done by the previous owner I don't know. But the point is, the buyer is going to be on the hook for all of this stuff.
I think the garage conversion is probably going to be the stickiest wicket if the city gets wind of it...
Do these issues make sense at this price point?

The Price.....
Okay, this is the point in the past where I would say something like, 'What kinda crack are they smoking.' or, 'How much weed did they have to smoke before that price made sense?' Well, now that I am a kindlier, gentler knifecatcher, this is what I'll say.

There are several things about the price which don't make sense to me.
1. Current owners bought near the top of the market in '06 and according to their permit record have not made any major improvements, yet, now that the market is waaaaaaaaaaay down they want more for the house?
2. I know for a fact that a similar house in the same neighborhood was just appraised for a refi at $850k. The appraiser claimed that, that was the most he could justify given the available comps. If that appraisal is even remotely correct, how do the sellers justify the difference?
3. 1336 Sherman St. which on paper is basically the same house, on a slightly less desirable block couldn't sell for $1.275M and it was on the market for a looooooooooong time.
4. With the permit issues and new roof needed how does that price make sense?

Conclusion
Its got location, location, location out the wazoo!!!
Its a gorgeous mostly original Victorian with a great front porch.
Seems like it could be a great place to raise some kids.
The price is just waaaaay too high.
If they dropped the price down to $1M they'd have a chance to sell it I think...to somebody with a HUGE down payment who wouldn't have to worry about the appraisal.

This house is so far outta my price range that maybe I just don't understand how people who can afford a house like this think. It needs a new kitchen, roof, and all the permit issues squared away...and then you still don't have a garage to park your Porsche....

And that's the way I see it.