Our Carmel Valley listing closed escrow yesterday!
It was the 3br/2.5 ba, 1,804sf home built in 1989 that we completed about $60,000 worth of upgrades in preparing for market (it had been a rental for years). The before-and-after photos were featured here:
Previous Blog PostThe house looked great and it was vacant but this was when I did the blog post about spring break interrupting the market’s momentum. We decided to forge ahead, and I inputted the listing onto the MLS on the Thursday morning before spring break with immediate showings available that day – in hopes of catching any buyers that might be leaving for vacation the next day.
We had six showings on Thursday and Friday, and 100+ people came to open house over the weekend.
In January, I predicted that we would list for $1,750,000, and sell for $1,900,000.
On March 31st, we hit the MLS priced at $1,750,000, and closed for $1,875,000.
We received one offer.
Thankfully, the only offer included a $125,000 premium to incentivize the sellers to take the deal, instead of waiting for two in the bush. But we were already on Day 4 of open-market exposure, so I knew we were at peak market and our chances of selling for over list price would start dropping .
We contemplated whether we should counter-offer on price, or extend the two-week escrow period because we wanted the extra time for the sellers’ 1031 exchange. But given the fact that we only had one offer, the sellers signed it.
We had already completed a home inspection in advance, and thought we had fixed everything. The buyers did their own home inspection – which we always recommend to our buyers as well, and here’s why.
Their inspector noted that the water-meter gauge was running, even with all faucets being off. It’s the sign that a leak had developed, and the hot-water heater was operating the entire time too. The sellers checked their history of utilities and found their costs spiked on March 31st.
We have a ‘slab leak’, and we knew it was the hot side!
Just the thought of a slab leak causes grave concern and panic for most people. But we’ve handled them before, and know that they can be fixed with money like any other home repair.
Donna’s vendors jumped on it, and we closed in 16 days, instead of fourteen.
Here’s the video:
Only getting one offer was mostly due to the home and yard size per feedback received. Not many families with WFH needs can fit into a 3-bedroom home, and the lot size was only 4,331sf.
But the buyers were upgrading from a CV townhouse, so it was a great fit for them.
Housing is unaffordable. Summers have become unbearably hot. Earthquakes and fires remain an ever-present, terrifying threat.
And yet, nearly 40 million of us choose to live in California. For the past several weeks, you’ve been telling me why.
In the dozens of love letters to Fresno, Crescent City, Glendale and more that have landed in my inbox, there are some common threads for why we stay: family ties, the beaches, the diversity, the pleasant weather. But more often, the reason is something far less concrete, something that can’t easily be summarized in a few words.
Today I’m sharing your notes about why you love your corner of California. As always, you can share your own submission at CAToday@nytimes.com. Enjoy.
“I’ve traveled the world and there is something distinctive and unique about the light in Southern California. It’s brighter, shinier, warmer. My first year of graduate school in Boston was freezing, wet and gray. When I returned home to California for winter break and stepped off the plane in December, I felt the light of the sun in my bones. The sky was so blue. It was visceral and unforgettable.” — Darlene Salmon, San Diego
“Dear Napa,
For eight years now, I’ve been in love with you. Whether it’s a densely foggy morning that smells like the sea or a day of blue skies speckled with hot air balloons, I wake up instantly reminded of my love for you.
As I drive through this valley of rolling hills, vineyards that change shape and color throughout the year, craggy mountains and hiking trails of endless wonder, I realize how lucky I am to truly love where I live.
California is not perfect, but I can never leave. Whether at home in Napa or with my feet in the sand at Dillon Beach or breathing in the smell of the forest on a trail, you have me forever. And I hope I have you.” — Megan DeGuerre, Napa
“I love this vacation land I get to live and play in. Hikes through the redwoods, floating on the Smith River on a hot summer day or a stroll on the beach. The northernmost end of the state has it all, except the crowds.” — Sandra Anderson, Crescent City
“California in general and Los Angeles in particular has a rep for being a haven for people who love nothing so much as hiking and surfing, which made Burbank a delightfully nerdy surprise.
My first apartment was in walking distance of three used bookstores on San Fernando. Then there was the Christmas celebration at City Hall in which Burbank welcomed Santa to town by giving him his own library card. When I saw that, I turned to my partner and said, ‘That’s the most Burbank thing I’ve ever seen.’
From the multiple gaming stores to the sci-fi conventions at the Marriott and the Dalek standing sentinel at Geeky Teas — the world’s first, and perhaps only, gaming cafe/tea emporium/kitten rescue hybrid — Burbank flies its nerd flag like it’s the seal of the city. As one of Burbank’s thousands of nerdy entertainment professionals, it’s hard to imagine a city that could make us feel more at home. — Kathleen “K.C.” Cromie, Burbank
“No matter where in the world I have been, there is no feeling like the feeling of flying and descending right into a California evening. As I admire time and again its majestic golden light and walk into the sage-infused dry air, I know I am home.” — Rosana Díaz, San Francisco
Dropped off my senior thesis (1983), borrowed $200 from my uncle. Drove my 400cc motorcycle through every State on the Eastern seaboard then Southern border. I have pictures under the “Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway” signs. There are only two on the I-10. Florida and Santa Monica. Go ahead, try to pry me out. So many things awry but so much to embrace.
After growing up in Phoenix, I packed everything I owned into my 1953 Willys CJ-3B with no top (ever) and headed west to San Diego. Drove up the coast with the breeze in my longer hair. Pulled off at a record store and bought Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk album, which had been just released on October 12, 1979. Vowed never to leave again.
But I’ve come to terms with that, and I could see us moving out of state. When I lived in Phoenix as a kid, I always enjoyed the small towns up in the hills of Arizona – Snowflake, Show Low, Pinetop, Payson, etc. and I think I could find a spot there to ride it out.
As for slab leaks ,turn the electricity off at the mains, turn off the municipal stopcock,open the furthest faucet, pressurize the system to about 1.5 bar with a gas cylinder of hydrogen and a pressure regulator then look for the exact spot where the leak is with a hydrogen sniffer/detector (works like Geiger counter does for radium or plutonium specks)
I hire these items for detecting water leaks as I do all my own plumbing,wiring,carpentry, bricklaying,welding concreting,roofing etc etc etc
Like this there is only one or two holes and much less digging!