17 Comments

1. 

   tj & the bear on June 21, 2011 at 10:45 pm

   Boy, it just gets progressively worse, doesn’t it.

2. 

   College Joe on June 21, 2011 at 11:03 pm

   Is that house even worth saving? Can it be saved? I remember when I was first getting interested in real estate, around the 6th/7th grade and we were looking for houses to rent, because we were remodeling our house in Leucadia and the contractor strongly recommended that we relocate. So my parents and I are out looking at houses and I thought, this Dad, is it! It was a 70s style home in La Costa that had a really cool yard…but all sorts of water damage.

   So we ended up renting a 70s style, split-level house near Cottonwood Creek Park (it was a dirt lot then). I guess my parents thought they got a good deal on it, so they signed a lease. There was a reason it was such a deal: it was so cheaply built that my brother’s leg went right through the drywall when he was climbing around, then the furnace blew out and my brother and I slept on the floor in my parents’ room with the space heater. No insulation at all and everything was just….cheap & ugly. The 6 or so months they expected turned into about 12 months. It was awful.

   That house from the video brought back memories….70s were NOT a good time for home building!

3. 

   LM on June 22, 2011 at 6:29 am

   Wow…don’t know which is worse….the lake in teh yard or the garage band across the street.

   Can all be yours for only half a mill!

   Maybe a flipper could band-aid it get it sold. Would have to buy around 400K though is my guess

4. 

   clearfund on June 22, 2011 at 7:32 am

   better not let the ‘authorities’ see that swampy side yard…they will label that a ‘vernal pool/wetland’ and require you to maintain it as such…do not laugh, it happened to us on a project with CA Fish & Game. It was a puddle!!

5. 

   Another Investor on June 22, 2011 at 8:27 am

   I dunno, the vector control/mosquito abatement folks might be the “authorities” you want to see the swamp. BERORE you make your offer, of course.

   I can’t see the exact degree of slope, but couldn’t you remove the big tree in front and get the water to the street somehow? Possibly channel it out by the driveway?

6. 

   lgs8818 on June 22, 2011 at 8:44 am

   let’s call the tie power salmon.

7. 

   consultant on June 22, 2011 at 8:54 am

   The back yard tells the story on why it hasn’t sold. They’ll need a sump pump for sure. Maybe a french drain around the back and sides would stop the water from reaching the house.

   Avoid buying homes where the grade slopes toward the house.

8. 

   Daniel(theotherone) on June 22, 2011 at 9:13 am

   Slab-on-grade is the worst idea for home building ever devised. It did make a fortune for KB, Lyons and others.

9. 

   Jinx on June 22, 2011 at 10:42 am

   I’d buy this house if it was just an issue of redirecting water off a slope, but I think it’s far worse. When it was on the market as a short sale we looked into it buying it but the owner said there was a natural water spring or such (can’t remember the term) under the property and he was trying to sue the builder. The sump pump pit (under the wood thing) is flooded with nasty brown/orange slime and isn’t working. Even if you fixed the sump pit and added french drains I think the extra water would still be there. Just not worth the risk.

   I like the salmon power tie 🙂

10. 

    Mark on June 22, 2011 at 10:55 am

    What is slab-on-grade, and what’s the problem with it? I looked it up on Wikipedia, and it sounds like its the typical slab foundation that’s used for just about every tract house around here, even the ones being built in 2011.

11. 

    Daniel(theotherone) on June 22, 2011 at 11:04 am

    It is used in almost all tract housing because it is cheap. With raised foundation you can fix problems if you encounter soils issues after construction which are very common in the cut and fill process.

12. 

    Jakob on June 22, 2011 at 11:29 am

    Tie’s a little bit pink.

13. 

    Jakob on June 22, 2011 at 11:33 am

    You could bottle that water and sell it to the localvores. “Pure Carlsbad spring water, no carbon footprint, almost totally free of bacteria.”

14. 

    François Caron on June 22, 2011 at 12:58 pm

    Or you can call it a “natural swimming pool!”

15. 

    Geotpf on June 22, 2011 at 3:24 pm

    Slab on grade does have some advantages. For example, it eliminates the need for steps to get in and out of the house-important for the eldery, and nice for everybody else.

    In any case, pretty much every house built in California in the past fifty years (99% or so) is slab on grade, so…

16. 

    MarkB on June 22, 2011 at 4:31 pm

    Yikes! Tear it down, build the next one on stilts. I bet that street drain can’t handle the flow sometimes too.

17. 

    François Caron on June 23, 2011 at 7:50 am

    Hmm. That’s a good observation about the street drain.

    Jim, do you think you can pass by the place again the next time it rains?