patrick.net

There is an empty house next to where I live, it could be a rental or
even a purchase opportunity. All I know is that its been empty, but maintained, since early 2010 until now which is March 2012.

Its a 4 bed 2 bath, 1971 sq ft house, 7431 sq ft lot, single story. Zillow says it was built in 1965.

Area is not on earthquake problematic soils (high clay not subject to liquifaction), and is not in the 100 or 500 year flood plains. If this property floods, there are lots of people who need canoes.

Quiet neighborhood, mostly owner occupied. The neighborhood was built in
1964-1966, right after I-580 was opened up over the Dublin grade traveling west
into Castro Valley and the East Bay, making this area available for the suburban
sprawl.

The houses in the neighborhood have good bones, but most of the original owners
are in need of some updates on the roof, exterior, interior, landscaping, etc..

Here is what I know from first hand experience:

My wife and I move into a west Dublin property in December of 2009, after a
purchase from an estate sale. The original owner and wife had passed and the
kids were taking care of the estate. Our current house was basically in original condition (popcorn ceilings, rose bud faucets in the bath with matching towel bars, bone white carpets, landscaping with oleander and evergreens, you get the picture). Classic scenario: needs lots of work limits serious lookers.

Our scenario was pretty good in that we had looked at the property a few
times and it came back on the market 3 times after the buyers were unable to
obtain financing. I think that since it was an estate sale the kids had already
mentally spent their profits from the house sale, and when it was taken away,
3 times when the buyers fell through, they were happy to consider a much lower offer from a pre-qualified buyer.

We knew that it was early (pre bottom, but close enough for us) in our purchase
timing, I don't want to get into the other circumstances which pushed our decision. I expect another 10-20% to come off this area in the next 5 years, but we are rent = mortgage, and we both work in under 4 miles.

We move in, we meet the neighbors, a very nice next door neighbor in her mid to
late 80's within a few months in 2010 she needs to move into an assisted living
facility.

We meet the neighbor's daughters and their husbands (both live in the bay area, one within a few blocks and another within an hour drive) when they hold a garage sale next door, so we can give you the contact information of the daughters, who you can approach for either a rental opportunity or a purchase opportunity.

I'll try to describe the house:

Its a mid century rancher, one story, all one level, it might have a single 8" step down into the living room area (~200-300 sq ft) I can't remember.

The house is above the street elevation by about 4 feet with a 2 car garage and one bedroom facing the street. The front of the house faces pretty close to due south and the front double door, in swing, is in a small plant friendly courtyard between the west garage and east bedroom.

The front is painted grey stucco top and unpainted red brick bottom, landscaping is low water xeriscaping in the front/south and with grass, planters and trees in the back/north.

It has a 4/12 pitched roof with red metal/asphalt shingles, white gutters, red
brick chimney. Roof venting is soffet inlet vents with gable end exhaust vents.

Its a good PV solar location with excellent S - SW exposure, for TOU billing.

Exterior property line has a 3 foot tall wood retaining walls on the north and west sides of the property line about 2-4 feet from property line, with privacy fencing at 6-7 foot height on the west, north and east property lines. The retaining wall areas are basically raised beds for gardening.

Fencing and wood retaining wall are mostly painted grey or green, could use some
scraping and a new coat if not replacing.

I don't remember much about the inside, having been inside only once, but I recall it was not a flipper remodel with cheapo granite on original crapo cabinets. If you are looking to do your own thing and not redo someone else's cheap flip, this could be your place.

The original owner was a carpenter by trade, so I can imagine that if there was any work done after being built it might be done right. Taxes are pocket change, so its definitely original owners.

I think it had the original single pane aluminum frame windows, and white tile
grouted counter top kitchen with mid century GE kitchen appliances. Can't remember that very much, so caveat emptor.

What I can say structurally if its like ours, and hard to imagine if its much
different.

Its got 3/4 inch wide oak hardwoods under carpet, 3/4 inch copper fresh water
plumbing, 100 Amp main electrical service no aluminum wires, cast iron sewage in
house connecting to tile towards street, 2x4 t&g subfloor laid on 2x12 floor joists on 16 centers, cellulose insul blown in attic, fiberglass insul in walls. Natural gas in black iron pipe for heat and hot water, centrally located furnace and water heater, the A/C was not standard when built, but many (most?) have been installed. Vented earth crawlspace under house. Poured concrete perimeter footings with interior pier piling foundations, no cripple walls.

If you do your own remodel work, this is an empty canvas, you won't pay a premium for someone else's vision of what is hot. I don't have specific information about the condition of this place other than looking over my fence, but it looks to be in good shape and if you have the ability to change a jelly jar style side garage door light with something that you think is more architecturally interesting then you might have found the right place.

You will need to look for evidence of termites, all houses this age look like food for wood destroying insects, just how much they liked one versus the one next door. The same for vermiculite, asbestos, lead in paint, etc. back in the day we didnt know, and in 50 years the current housing stock will have fallen down...

The house is a 30 minute walk to the west Dublin Pleasanton BART, you can get a
membership in a local swimming pool club less than 5 minutes walk away (Briar Hill), several local dog friendly off leash parks, walk to italian, sushi, dim-sum, Starbucks, etc. You could live car free here, but car access to I580 and I680 commutes are easy.

In my opinion, as a 40 something who has owned a few houses before and enjoys putting in some sweat equity to make my place what I want, this could be a decent place for a renter who contracts with the owners to take the cost and labor of up grades off the rent or a buyer who can convince the owners that they can get a windfall and not need to upgrade all the windows/appliances/kitchen/baths to get other buyers to take a look.

My best guess is that the place might rent in the $2000 a month range and Zillow
prices it just under $500k.

If there are any questions, I'll try to answer them, but to be honest as the next door neighbor guy, I'd prefer this house to be occupied by a neighbor that we could borrow a cup of sugar from each other rather than have $5.

It seems silly for a device built to contain humans to be without its basic
purpose, people. So fill this house folks, convince the owners that your
monthly rent check can either be monthly income or the purchase a one time paycheck.

One of the daughters lives less than 3 blocks away, they should understand that the local prices are off their 2005-2007 highs and we are in the long slow down-sideways for prices. If they want to take their money off the table in the form of this house, you'll give the daughters a help in supporting their mother in her assisted care facility.

To get a bargain, you'll need to explain the pig in a poke pricing to them.

You should be able to explain the, "I'll buy it for $X, or you can remodel it and after at contractor costs out of pocket, you'll still get $X".

I can tell you the owners are not DIY'ers, the original owner was a carpenter, the daughters experience and husbands are elsewhere.

My motivation: a human family in a house next to mine, not $5.

To all: best of luck, let me know if I can be of help.

#housing