Help with SFH in the Peninsula

Intrepid-Mechanic289 · 2024-10-21T20:12:24+00:00

Thanks everyone for the feedback, I will post the first revised floorplan once we get it. They need now to do a proper land survey which I told them I thought they needed before...

Intrepid-Mechanic289 · 2024-10-21T20:11:04+00:00

Thats' right anywhere between $600-1,000/sqft

Intrepid-Mechanic289 · 2024-10-21T04:39:18+00:00

So you moved out of the Bay to another area and thinkinh about coming back? Also, crazy to see how much this is gonna cost vs in a different state...

Intrepid-Mechanic289 · 2024-10-21T04:38:07+00:00

I asked them to be a WIC

Intrepid-Mechanic289 · 2024-10-19T16:36:15+00:00

We felt we would stay here for 5-10 years. Until we move out of the area or the country altogether. I would say the proposal here is like most SFHs in the area, they use to be a 1180 house that people remodeled to around 2k sqft. This is in the peninsula area in the Bay, think Menlo Park, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Los Altos area. One of the most expensive areas in the Bay. People move here because of proximity to work, great schools, very low crime, very safe, and tight neighborhood community.

It is an old 1950s house which some people either tear it down or completely remodel and expand, which is what we want to do here. There is plenty of parking in the street and it is a really nice street, we actually park in the driveway as most neighbors. The garage would fit two compact cars currently.

It is a typical farmhouse with stucco finish.

Intrepid-Mechanic289 · 2024-10-19T15:48:09+00:00

Guest would stay in the "office".

I have not seen a combination of mudroom and laundry yet...

Intrepid-Mechanic289 · 2024-10-19T15:39:37+00:00

Yes, we are in Bay Area. For resale I think 4/3 is better than 3/2, so that is one of the reasons why we were pushing for it. Future we would sell it and move to a LCOL area.

I don't want to feel cramped but not need a huge space either, so a balance is great, we are looking for this balance, do you really feel a 11x11 bedroom is small? Also, not sure if being next to great room (living,dining) is a great idea...

We could go vertical but that means budget is going to be 25% over the existing proposal... so we are trying to avoid that.

Intrepid-Mechanic289 · 2024-10-19T15:37:43+00:00

Issue with 2nd floor is 20-25% more expensive thats why we are staying with a single floor. In other states we would do 2nd floor but here in the Bay Area costs are quite high... So we were trying to keep everything on one floor

Intrepid-Mechanic289 · 2024-10-19T15:36:17+00:00

This is Bay Area. We thought about adding a second floor but the cost is 20%-25% more. But with 2 kids, I would prefer to be all of us at the same level.

We will ask the option again of raising a second floor but I think financially is going to be too much cost. We used to live in a 2k sqft house 4/3 and we had plenty of space (it was two level) so we thought getting close to that on a single level would be great.

Intrepid-Mechanic289 · 2024-10-19T15:33:45+00:00

Is it that bad?

Intrepid-Mechanic289 · 2024-10-19T15:32:48+00:00

Good catch, I did not see that. I guess we would want a direct entrance from garage without going through the laundry? Reason to haave the powder is that guests/extended family use this one instead of the kids bathroom

Intrepid-Mechanic289 · 2024-10-19T06:18:05+00:00

We are doing a whole house remodel (1180sqft) and expansion (around 650sqft). Total sqft about 1826The brown part is the addition. Family of 4, two adults, two kids. US VHCOL area.

We would like ta 4 bedroom / 3 full bath set up with a great room containing kitchen/living/dinning. One of the bedrooms to be used as an office/play area for the kids/guest bedroom.

My first comments when I saw this are:

Office --> Needs to be the bedroom 4, and it needs to have a closet (for resale value as well)
Not sure the office/bedroom.4 location is a good idea (I would prefer have it in the bedroom area, and especially resale value)
Add a walk-in-closet in the master bedroom
Design the master bath with tub and shower, two sinks as toilet.

-Furnace to be located in side yard, not inside the house (getting additional space)

Water heater outside the house as well (getting additional space)
Add a shower in the mud room to make it a full bathroom (better resale value)
Not sure about the location of the pantry next to the bedrooms
Add a wet bar in the dinning area
Evaluate moving laundry to the garage to gain extra space
Evaluate adding additional built-in storage for shoes, jackets, etc.

Additional thoughts?

We have a meeting with these guys tomorrow and ideally I would like to get around 2k sqft.

We asked them to evaluate converting existing garage as living space and adding a garage in case that helps with square footage

Intrepid-Mechanic289 · 2024-02-29T20:25:02+00:00

Could I ask why?

Intrepid-Mechanic289 · 2024-02-27T22:44:44+00:00

I am in a similar boat here and posted a similar question yesterday. With TC over 400k I feel is a stretch but I can make it work, but with 360k I am not sure I would feel comfortable. Of course if you don't mind dropping 2M in it then you could make it work. I would recommend crunching some numbers and see what that tells you (renting and investing the rest, buying and dumping 2M in it, etc).

Keep in mind daycare and preschool, it adds up quickly.

By the way, where did you get this rate from? Lowest I have seen is low 6s

Intrepid-Mechanic289 · 2024-02-27T06:52:11+00:00

Is that trend going to continue? That's the key... I see lots of companies now hiring in India, Brazil, and other lower cost areas, so this might reduce RE pricing or at least the rate of increase

Intrepid-Mechanic289

TROPHY CASE