This Old House

Picture used on the Open House flyer

10 years ago this week, SQ and I went to the Old Republic Title Company in West Portal and signed what seemed to be an endless stack of escrow papers to officially buy our first house together. 2 days later, we got our keys and officially saw our house for the SECOND time. Here's our story of how fate has us owning this house:

Early 2002, before we got married, SQ and I looked into buying a starter home. We both made pennies back then, but we aggressively saved for about 1.5 years and had about $40k.  My sisters combined would lend us $45k.  Our budget was $300-350k.  Although we would love to live in the City, we never really seriously looked here because our budget would only allow us to live in the Bayview/Hunters Point area.  So we looked at houses in Oakland, El Cerrito, San Leandro, and in Berkeley instead.  We submitted offers to 3-4 houses but were outbidded each time.  However, on a Tuesday in March (election day), my agent called and asked us to go to see this house in the Sunset, which is offering a Broker's Open House that day until 7pm. This was 1 bedroom house selling for $379k.  I had my doubts that we would ever get it.  In the Sunset?  Nevertheless, I used the excuse of having to go vote to leave work early.  SQ and I made it to the house a little past 7pm.  When we walked into the house, the seller's agent was already packing her stuff to leave but decided to make a last minute phone call to the owner to brief her on the open house.  We looked around and it was a blur.  I just remembered a lot of furniture and the downstairs basement was undone, but it was sectioned off with couches & tons of books.  It was used as a reading book/library. We peeked outside the window to the yard so we couldn't see a thing because it was so dark. We didn't know what the condition of the yard was.  Because we were the last ones there, we got a chance to talk to the seller's agent. We shared with her that we're about to get married, trying now to find our 1st home, and that my parents lived only blocks away.  We learned that a few people came by as well, many of them contractors who knew although this house was listed as 1 bed 1 bath, there was a high ceiling unfinished basement (with lots of expansion potential).   We also found out that the last day to submit offers was the next day!!

We called up our agent & she came to my mom's house at 9pm to draft up an offer. We put in an offer above the asking price. **It was during the crazy time of the house-bidding war.  Our agent wanted us to bid at or above $400k so we would have a better chance, but we didn't budge.  This was already way past our budget so we stuck the maximum amount we would pay.

The next day, I was at work when my agent called.  Our offer was in consideration & asked if we can give a little more.  We ended up agreeing to pay $1k more...which in hindsight, it felt almost like a joke, since $1k is NOTHING when compared to the hundreds of thousands the house is selling for. After a couple of hours, my agent called me back and we got the house!!  We did not give in the highest offer, but because the owner was "touched" by our story (a young couple starting a new life together and my hope to live near my parents), she decided to sell us the house. It turns out that the owner was a Professor in the East Coast - used to live in this house with her mother, until she got an offer to teach in the a university in the East Coast, so she relocated.  Her mother didn't want to move so stayed in the house, until she was too old to take care of herself - so she eventually moved to a nursing home. It was evident that the money was not on the top of the owner's mind. She did not want any open houses even though it could have maximized her number of potential buyers.  The agent held only 2 broker tours on Tues between 3-7p and that was it. No For Sale outside nor was the key in a lockbox for any unscheduled visits.  She chose us because she was close to her mother and loved the fact that we also wanted to be close to my parents.  She trusted us to take care of the house and make it a home...which we did. We closed escrow on April 16, 2002 and recorded the deed on the 18th.

It has been 10 years living in this house. We finished the basement, redid the front and back yard, remodeled the kitchen, added in new appliances, fixed the roof, and insulated the entire house.  We've done a lot within these past 10 years!! We take pride in our house and try to maintain it in good shape.  Couldn't believe that we'll be moving out of this house this year...It's been great living here!!

Backyard Construction - Part I

On our never-ending quest of home construction projects, we finally worked on our backyard. When we bought our house, our backyard is filled with plants, shrubs, and flowers. We had over a dozen bushes of roses, trees, green lawn, climbing honeysuckle, etc, etc, etc. Over the years, due to laziness and a lack of garden knowledge, our backyard has gone from a vibrant garden to a jungle. Weeds were rampant and out of control. So we finally decided to clean it up! Here is a picture of a "cleaned-up" backyard. All the weeds and grass are gone.

BEFORE: Backyard from 2nd floor bedroom window

Ground level views: Left of yard, back of yard, right of yard

So the construction begins...

Step 1: Layout

Step 2: Concrete

Step 3: Fence

Backyard Construction - Part II

Step 4: DeckStep 5: Trellis

Step 6: Shed
Step 8: COMPLETION!! Voi-la~!

We're about 95% done ... just because we have a couple of windows on the side of the shed that still need to be installed. And there is massive clean-up to do! Not to mention some planting! Learning from our previous green experience or lack thereof, we're going to pick some native and easy to grow shrubs and plants. We want to get some climbing plants for the trellis. Oh yeah, backyard furniture too... hopefully, we'll get all of this done by Spring so we can enjoy the deck with some sun!!

Planter & Trash Shield

After many hours of hard labor during the weekends, SQ finally finished the planter and trash shield outside our front yard. Here is a picture of it:
The project started out when we found out that a recent San Francisco law prohibits the trash bins to be in plain view after garbage collection day. In other words, we will get fined if we have our bins sitting outside our yard. We have always had our bins outside the front yard since our downstairs remodel when access to our back yard was limited. We didn’t like putting the bins in our garage because of bugs, garbage smell, etc. So long story short, we decided to put up a trash shield to ”cover-up” the bins.

Along with the trash shield, we wanted to get a planter. We would like to grow some ornamental grass/flowers in the front, but we often get dogs ”doing their business” (pee’ing and poo’ing) in our front yard. Yes, there are despicable dog owners who allow their dogs to poo on other people’s yard (regardless of how nicely maintained the yard is) and worst is that they don’t pick up their dog’s poo. So that’s how the planter came about.

We still have to complete the other side with a similar planter box. I think we might paint it… or maybe not. But for sure we will put some nice plants in these planter boxes. Hopefully the next time you come by, you can see it.

Mini Kitchen Remodel

What started out as a simple hood installation progressed into a mini kitchen remodel...! Since we are cooking a lot more now, we decided that it was finally time to install a hood over our stove so our house won't smell like the food we just ate everytime we cook. SQ looked around and decided to buy a model from Home Depot. So, that was that. But it doesn't stop there. With the hood, we would need a duct to exhaust the air outside. We would like a nice cabinet to hide that 6" ugly silver duct. Then there came the cabinet. But if we install 1 cabinet, we mind as well install more cabinets - wall and base cabinets. We always need extra storage space anyways, for dishes, pots, pans, you name it. The cabinets go in. But base cabinets require a countertop. If we install a new countertop for the new base cabinets, we mind as well install a new counter for all the cabinets so it will look uniform. New countertop goes in. Installing the new countertop will require removal of existing backsplash tiles and some will be damaged and hard to match back. Mind as well replace the backsplash with new tiles. New tiles go in. Wait... hardware pulls on the old cabinets and new cabinets don't match. Mind as well replace all the hardware pulls. Did anyone notice that the white on the cabinets are not exactly the same? One is in a more "worn" white and the other "fresh" white. Mind as well repaint all the cabinets 1 uniform white color....

BEFORE AFTER

So you know the term -- opening a can of worms? This is one classic example. What started out as a simple project became more and more work. But I'm glad that it's all done now. I ended up with a new kitchen!

House Remodel II

Lesson learned this weekend: Too much variety = Bad idea.

My husband and I went to several construction stores along Bayshore on Saturday and were OVERWHELMED. There are so many tile choices out there - different manufacturers, materials, designs, colors, price ranges, etc. It is impossible to choose one. We finally decided to go to Home Depot and choose among the 9-10 styles they have there. We finally bought the American Marazzi tiles in Beige for the shower walls and a brown-tan-beige combo mosaic tile for the floor. I can't wait until I see the results!

We are also planning to replace all the doorknobs in our house so they all match with the new kobs that we have downstairs. We have a total of 12 knobs, not incuding the main entry! We bought the Pegasus solid brass round knobs in a satin nickel finish. Here is a before and after shot of our knobs!

The satin nickel finish makes our doors and overall look a little more modern. Plus, we have paint all over the old knobs. I know, little detail.

House remodel

When we first bought our 1-bedroom house 5 years ago, we know that we would need to eventually remodel the garage downstairs. Fast forward 5 years later to now, we are finally in the construction phase - or should I dare say that we're close to the end of construction. We are adding an additional bedroom, bathroom, utility room, as well as retrofitting the main garage area. And yes, all these are LEGAL. We got the permits for it, and will end up paying more in property taxes - but that's the trade off of going by the books.

It has been a 3 month ordeal so far... really hope to get everything done by June! Here are some pictures:


Mar 24, 2007.
Rough framing for the bedroom
Insulated floor, ceiling, and walls
Opened up an extra window to the backyard





Mar 31, 2007.
Re-routed and installed all new copper pipes throughout
New bathroom with customized shower stall
New tankless water heater






Apr 15, 2007
New Milgard double-pane windows installed in bedroom
New Milgard double-pane sliding door out to the backyard
Recess lights throughout

May 3, 2007
Photo is of customized shower pan
Built with layer of Durock Cement board for waterproofing
Porcelain tiles for the shower stall
Travertine flooring
Built-in case work for linens

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May 20, 2007
Dryall all-round, including garage
Seismic upgrades, beam mounts
Solid bamboo flooring in bedroom & hallway