New Condo Tours

So, exactly what have I been up to since my last post back in December?  That is, almost six months ago?

Waiting and seeing, mostly.  I'd become increasingly interested in Millbrae as my target area, but had also come to realize that there just weren't a lot of options out there in my price range.  There are very few older condos in Millbrae, and the newer ones are darn expensive.  Since I wasn't in a big rush to move, I decided to wait until the Millbrae Paradise units came on to the market; if they were reasonably priced, as seemed likely, then I would proceed.  I was worried that, if I picked something else in the meantime, I'd feel like a dud when Millbrae Paradise came online if it turned out to be a better deal.

So, for the most part, I've been monitoring Redfin and Craigslist - or, rather, reacting to the subscriptions that I have set up on those sites for notices of new listings - but hadn't been actively touring anything.  Finally, Millbrae Paradise started touring, so I got back in touch with Redfin and set up a tour; along the way, I also decided to visit Park Broadway, which had always been a marginal choice for me but seemed like a good basis for comparison since it's the newest nearby construction.

I first discovered that, thanks to the vagaries of Redfin's territory division, the area I was interested in (southern Millbrae and northern Burlingame) was divided between two totally different offices.  Burlingame is covered by the Peninsula team ("Redwood City to San Mateo", though they do handle points north and south as well), while Millbrae is covered by the San Francisco/Marin team.  I didn't just have a new field agent, but a whole new office as well.  I just sort of shrugged it off and went with it, though.  I was happy to see that, even though it had been more than four months since my last Redfin tour, they still had all my approval stuff on file and I didn't need to give them anything more to keep going.

Millbrae Paradise isn't listed on the MLS, so I submitted a tour request for a Park Broadway loft that was listed, and in the tour notes also requested a tour of Millbrae Paradise.  I indicated my flexibility for tour times.  This was towards the end of April, so I was kind of pushing to do it soon; in the best case, I figured, I'd check out Millbrae Paradise, it would be totally awesome and affordable, and I could quickly get in an offer and do a double-dip on the federal and state tax credits as a first-time homebuyer of a new construction condo.

First up was Park Broadway.  It ended up being much nicer than I had thought.  They've dropped the prices of these 1-bedroom loft units substantially, most recently another $50k.  I had never bothered to visit because I was weirded out by the fact that they directly face onto El Camino Real at street level.  I was pleasantly surprised to note that, at least in the model unit, the noise was practically unnoticeable, and with the demo window treatments, you got a lot of light without feeling like you were sitting next to a highway.  It helps that these units are set a bit below street level, behind a railing that separates them from the street and public sidewalk.  Plus, they're just huge; even though they are only one bedroom, they are extremely spacious.  Despite my reservations, I found myself actually considering grabbing one; it fit within my price range, looked great, and was freaking huge.  Ultimately, though, I decided that the siting was just a non-starter for me.  If I'm going to pay Bay Area prices for real estate, I want to be able to enjoy Bay Area weather, and it was depressing to think that I'd need to always keep the windows shut and stay indoors when I was home.

Next up came Millbrae Paradise.  I'd patiently been waiting a long time for them to finish, and was glad to finally get inside, but they clearly have a lot more left to go; even though the model units are ready, there's a lot of construction happening throughout.  After a little initial confusion over exactly where the sales center is (a sign points into an adjacent parking lot, while the actual trailer is farther up the street), I met the very pleasant sales associates.  I was turned off by how unforthcoming they were about the prices on the units; apparently this is fairly typical for new construction, but still, I would have really appreciated a straight answer regarding how much something costs.  I eventually figured out that even their cheapest 1-bedroom unit (a smallish condo on the second floor) would be going for a cool $100k more than my maximum budget.  Yikes!  I felt glum - I'd staked too much on a couple of words on their website, which boasted about "Affordable Elegance"; I guess we have different definitions of "affordable."  As long as I was finally there, though, I went ahead and did the tour.

The models do look really nice.  They are just a little slap-dash - I thought that their cabinets were extremely modern, but it turns out that the contractors just had forgotten to attach the knobs.  On the whole, I could really see myself living there, which just made me more bummed that they were outside my range.  Even though the rational part of my mind realizes that the quality of finishes and appliances are the least important aspects of a home, far behind the importance of location and solid construction, there's still an undeniable visceral reaction that I experience when I walk into a place that just feels really nice and high-quality.

We finished the tour, went back to the sales trailer, I sat down, we chatted just a little longer, I asked about a particular unit, they again wouldn't tell me the price, but said that they could speak with the manager.  I said "No, thanks," and left.

All in all, a bit of a bummer.  I spent the next day moping around; I hadn't realized until then just how thoroughly I had convinced myself that I would end up living there..  Still, what was done was done.  I decided to make a clean break, put Millbrae Paradise (which, inexplicably, has now changed its name back to Belamor again) out of my mind, and decided where to go from there.

Your New House

As part of my preparation, I've been reading a fair amount of real estate information.  A good chunk of this takes the form of news articles and online sources, but I also have several books that I've read or that I plan to read.  I'll try and summarize such books here, to describe both the good and the bad of each.

"Your New House" was written by the husband-and-wife team of Alan and Denise Fields.  It covers a relatively narrow category of real estate: purchasing a new house, with extra emphasis on overseeing construction.  In other words, rather than looking at a set of existing houses to find one that you like, working with professionals to build a house to your specifications.

The book has a lot of personality and is pretty enjoyable to read.  They stuff the book with anecdotes, a couple from their own experience and many more from readers who contacted them after reading earlier editions of the book.  This isn't a dry, detached, clinical look.  It self-advertises as being part caution, part information, and part rant. 

They don't put any effort into being "objective," and just call 'em like they see 'em.  They are relentlessly harsh towards builders and subcontractors.  If you take one thing away from this book, it will be the importance of choosing a good builder and watching them like a hawk.  They also sneer at real estate agents, only begrudgingly allowing that, in certain circumstances, it may be wise to find an exclusive buyer's agent.  On the other hand, they are generally glowing about architects, and speak fairly well about lawyers. 

Which does bring up an interesting point that they regularly raise: home-building is NOT a profession.  To become an architect or a lawyer, one must go to school for many years, study, and prove themselves.  Most real estate agents have no college degree, and anyone who picks up a hammer and (depending on the state) gets a license can become a builder.  I'm sure that there are bad architects and good builders out there, but when you consider how much money we spend on homes, it does seem pretty surprising that we don't have true systems for certifying professional builders.

While the breezy writing of the book is entertaining, it also makes it feel a bit loose and even untrustworthy.  In one example, the authors off-handedly mention that in an earlier edition of the book, they recommended that people frame their houses with 2x6 beams instead of 2x4s.  The reason for this was to permit more insulation, saving on energy bills.  Since the book came out, they had learned that the cost of the extra lumber and extra insulation was far too high, and the savings on lost heat far too low, for this to make sense.  On an average house, it would take about 75 years to recoup the extra money on materials.  So, never mind: 2x4s are fine!

Now, I'm delighted that they owned up to this mistake and talked through it, but it does shine light on a problem with this book: it's heavily anecdotal.  The authors aren't experts in the field.  Throughout the book, they're reporting what other people have told them.  Some of that is good advice; some of it is not.  You can't take this book as gospel.  Instead, you should treat it the same way you would treat a funny and opinionated guest at a dinner party.

That said, I am really glad that I read the book.  On the downside, it doesn't directly speak to my situation - the word "condo" isn't mentioned once in the entire book (fair enough, since it's "Your New House" and not "Your New Home"), and I won't have the opportunity to make many of the decisions they discuss (picking an architect, selecting a building site, etc.).  Nonetheless, all of those decisions will be made, and I now know how important it is to learn about them after the fact.  As a condo buyer I don't have as much choice, but that doesn't mean that the foundation is any less important, or that I should be less concerned about the builder's quality.

Probably the most valuable part of the book for me was the section towards the end that discusses the various choices available for components of the home: different styles of roof, materials for roofing, bathroom fixture manufacturers, siding, and so on.  Again, these aren't choices I'll be able to make, but after reading this book I now have a much better understanding of what the various options mean.  I now have a better understanding of the trade-offs between stucco, wood, brick, vinyl, and so on.  This extra knowledge will help me better evaluate various condo options and decide what I want.

Part of the book did make me seriously re-consider whether I wanted to stop being a renter at all.  The sections on builder scams and especially home-warranty fraud were especially distressing.  Once again, you would think that if you're spending so much money on something, you'd get some level of assurance of quality, but it's quite clear that a lot of people get into deep trouble.

That said, it's far better to read and think about these problems now than when I'm about to sign a check.  "Your New House" isn't gospel, but it is worth reading and thinking about.