If you’re right about those numbers I think there is actually a small profit there if it sells for 1.268M, which is where it’s at now. The 5% realtors will take about 64. Closing costs will be about 15K or so. There will be capital gains to pay. But at this point they’re probably still projecting a small profit. 140 – 64 – 15 – cap gains = what? 50K left over? hard to say.

Never realized a new foundation can cost that much because the 351 Ulloa St property on-sale next door was redone from the ground up which includes new foundation and everything except for the outer shell for $300k complete which is what they claimed as the property was sold to them for $828k in May 2008 and basically even if it did cost $300k, they would not make money as that’s already $1.128Million in total cost and the property was listed at $1.29 Million which means after the 6% realtors commission would be another $72k gone assuming they sell at full value. I wonder if you can actually just add to a existing foundation though.

I thought it was possible to legalize previous done work because what happens is someone files a complaint with the DBI and some inspector comes and basically they either make you legalize it with a permit or they make you take it down. I see what you mean but I thought the permit was actually to have the work performed as I thought they can still do the inspection portion. I guess the water heater permit is just like how the IRS audits since when they see a problem, they will audit all your returns and not just for that year only.

Hmm, how do you actually find out if a property has a certificate of occupancy or not since I haven’t been able to find that for all
the properties on sale I had a interest in on the DBI.

The expiration is the puzzling part since it’s been like 3+ years since the permit was issued and it’s not in the expired status and the triage status probably just means unsafe.

I know DBI staff can be helpful but there is always that chance of the incompetent DBI staff so hopefully I run into the good people.

I mean for fixing things, it seems like we should do it one step at a time instead of all at once since that would really hurt the wallet. I mean the Home Inspection revealed a bunch of reverse polarity which can’t be that hard to fix as they are talking about the outlets. So some things are easy to fix while some will just be a nightmare on elm street.

new foundations. $150-200K for a full perimeter full height (say 8ft tall 120-130 linear feet).

NO, I don’t believe it’s possible to legalize previously done work, and no, I don’t believe you can legalize ANY sqft without a plumbing inspection, an electrical inspection, a framing inspection [framing, insulation etc] and a general inspection. Those inspections are then closed with a “diploma like” document called certificate of occupancy whatever.

re the water heater permit. Yes, it’s not essential to close that permit. But the problem is when you have a series of open and expired permits topped with a complain. Then they want to reinspect it all.

Also, the certificate of occupancy is a serious item, and during that final inspection, the inspector can (you authorized him by calling him) visit every and any part of the house and refuse the certificate for a problem anywhere in the house (example: he finds an illegal stair to the garden).
So I guess that indeed that certificate erases any open permit issued before. But on that property, there is no such certificate.

A permit duration depends on the permit application. Most ‘small’ permits such as a bathroom remodel are 90days from issued date. A water heater permit might be in the 30 days range, and a whole remodel of the house is 6 or 12 months.

One more note: DBI staff has always been helpful. Cleaning a permit mess is left to sups and those who helped me were very very willing to help. They understand that a new owner cannot spend a fortune but still want a decent property. Your willingness to clean someone else mess will bail you out of as much as they can grant you.

Re the electrical nightmare. That’s when you have to put you foot down. We told the first electrical inspector of the first electrical inspection that we were very aware of the electrical need, but that we couldn’t and wouldn’t redo it all for the final inspection. Not under one permit, not the whole house within one year. Our white permit (the log) has a specific mention somthing like “owners will have new electric system room by room. They are aware of the risk of plugging any appliance on the old system”. Each subsequent inspection was dutifully refered to that paragraph to pass the inspection. (PS: if the whole house is reversed polarity, it might as well be a 8 hours search for the single mixup and 20mn fixing – not a whole rewiring. No electrician will do this, but if you buy, you should fix it to be less dangerous for the time being).

First of all, thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge even though you’re not a professional but every little bit of information helps especially when the other person is clueless as I am in this area.

That’s the same site where I found the info even though propertyshark.com shows pretty much everything all in one location.

Thanks for explaining the permit application, that makes sense.

Wow, I never knew you can get red tagged by the city for a expired permit since couldn’t some people just apply for the permit but never actually did any work after the permit was approved? How long does it take for a permit to expire anyways?

So basically what you’re saying is that one can just use the home inspection report/structural pest report and then visit the DBI in person to get the red tag removed
but in this case, there is no expired permit as the permits were issued with the latest status as Triage on the same date. In the case of this property, the rooms they added were done poorly and there is a wood post in the middle of the bedroom so those additions have to be redone anyways.

The problem is really the can of worms because it seems like when the house was originally listed, they said all rooms were legal and even listed the permit numbers which was late 2007/early 2008 and then when the property was finally transferred to the bank in November 2008, the bank decides to list the property as if the entire basement was unwarranted.

Yes, we are indeed talking about the above property.

I don’t think the 1994 reroofing and 1998 new windows expired permits matter as all those were not really a big concern as that was before 2004 when pretty much everything seems to be done 2005 and later.

The New Garage Slab in 2005 was never done because that’s where the major cost seems to be from both the Structural Pest Inspection and Home Inspection Report except that they can only see the foundation where that issue is as the rest of the basement has already been remodeled with all those addition so my concern is more that the rest of the foundation has issues too. I thought permit says TRIAGE on the same date as the ISSUED date and it doesn’t say expired anywhere as far as the status.

It’s hard to get the paper documents related to that work as the current owner is the bank and they aren’t providing anything it seems so I don’t think there would be a way to get the paper permit, architect plans, photos, etc at this point in time as it’s probably with the previous owner.

It seems like the property would be better left if it was just the full basement so that we can add th stuff legally instead as they did a pretty poor job.

The electrical wires from the pole are already a hazard according to the home inspection and lots of the wiring in the entire house is reverse polarity. If they already did the work before getting the permits, then I thought they wouldn’t need the electrical or plumbing permits since I thought you only needed that when the work was actually done?

The permit to change the water heater was done prior to 2005 so that was probably when the entire house is legalized as the property was sold in 2004 and then the last owner bought it in late 2005 before the bank took it over in late 2008. As for the water heater permits, note that for the property next door at 351 Ulloa St which was purchased at $828k in May 2008 and then basically the new owner did a full remodel from the studs up and it’s on sale on the market for close to $1.3 million now, that they too have a water heater replacement permit but that never got completed while all the other permits are in the complete stages so perhaps no one really completes permits when it comes to water heaters?

I know it’s better for the homeowner to deal with the DBI directly to get the best information as when it goes through the contractor or architect, some information might be missing but that all depends too on how competent the person you’re talking to at the DBI is.

Is the recent complaint done in January 2009 a big issue too since it seems like assuming we bought the property, the DBI can just come and fine us even if we visited the DBI the first thing.

It seems like the foundation/concrete and “raising” the house to fix it would be the first thing to do before doing anything else and it sounds really costly but I’m not sure how costly it would be as it seems like fixing just the concrete slab in the garage which is only about 6 feet or so is $38k-$50k from what the $765k buyer got quoted as it’s listed in the structural pest inspection report as well as from another contractor. So I’m just trying to figure out how much it would cost as a ballpark figure as I wonder if $100k would really cover it or will it be some huge amount.
Thanks!