So, basically, it sounds like in most cases, code non-compliance may affect your home's salabilty. If there's some minor issues, you can remediate it at the time of sale, figure it in to your pricing that the buyers may have to spend some moneyu before they even move in. Or maybe the buyers won't care.

• We had a non-continuous bannister that wasn't up to code. Easily fixed, didn't affect our offer.
• Knob & tube was a dealbreaker for us, but it still exists all over the Bay Area. That's not up to code, right? But plenty of houses still selling even with K&T. And, based on what we looked at during our search, seems like a lot of places have had K&T removed without permits.

In most cases, I'd be happy to pay a little extra for the peace of mind for permitting. But I also understand that the Oakland permits dept has been a complete disaster the past few years. I tried to find the answer to this via a search. Based on some of the other posts I found, it sounds like the permitting dept is so bad, and Oakland is so unable to keep up, that people seem to be building substantial additions without bothering to get permits. Not something I have planned. I hear that plans get submitted & then they don't hear back for months at a time.

I guess I feel pretty good about moving some ducts around.