This is the ongoing saga of our experiences building a beautiful Modern Chateau in Atherton. Live the process vicariously with us as we do this together in real-time…

Part 10 The Sale!

February 21, 2023

Previous blog entires detailed acquiring the land, design, foundation, framing, guts, walls, materials, finishing, and the marketing. We were showing the house, helping buyers foresee their lives in this beautiful place, and generally working hard.

And suddenly, just like that, it happened.

A solid offer appeared. We did our realtor stuff, but the details of that are going to remain confidential. We can spill the beans all day long about construction, because it’s OUR construction (and we paid for all the beans). But on the realtor side of things a bit of decorum and privacy is more our style. As realtors, we don’t kiss and tell. I mean, the war stories are epic, but they are all in the vault.

Suffice it to say that an offer was presented, and accepted, and at the time of this writing, escrow just closed.

Let’s focus on a retrospective of the build part. We are so proud of what we’ve created at 60 Shearer!

How Long Did It Take to Build?

This time between Close of Escrow for us to acquire the property and COE when we sell it will be 1,243 days. Or 41 months. Or 3.4 years. Or 6% of your humble correspondent’s life.

We had a planning submission after 5 months, which is good speed. The building permit was issued after 11 months, which is slow, but there was this awkward global pandemic thing slowing down the gears of municipal approval. Framing began at 16 months. Rough trades inspection was passed at 25 months. We went live on the market (MLS) at 37 months, and were in contract at 40 months. Close of Escrow makes it 41 months of project.

As this is our eighth project; we kinda know what we are doing by now and have a good reputation with our partners. If you are thinking of embarking on the dream project of building your own home… it’s harder and slower, with more anxiety and second-guessing. Don’t get me wrong— we love the process so much it took over our lives— but the phrase “build a house, lose a spouse” didn’t just come out of nowhere.

Do You Go On Site Much?

During construction (between the time of demolition and going live on the MLS) we visited the site probably twice a week for those 27 months. That makes 216 visits. During the sales process, we held three parties, one broker tour, one open house, and toured 36 groups through over 43 different personalized visits (the most serious prospective buyers came multiple times). Add in the sales prep intensity, escrow management, and pre-construction process, and the total site visits is probably 300. 300 visits means a lot of mud, a lot of climbing ladders, a lot of N95 masks, and a lot of picking up random garbage because no one else is there. We live only 10 minutes away, which works out to 133 hours of transport time back and forth! We don’t know how people can do this kind of work if its far away. Construction, like real estate, is an intensely local business.

We are proud of our efficiency. To anyone embarking on their own development project, in our experience it is a mistake to turn things over to a team (even a capable and trusted team!) without being hands on yourself. Everything is cheaper and faster when you intercept problems swiftly. And there are always problems.

Was Everyone Happy With the Result?

On some construction sites, people leave with thinly veiled hatred, or even lawsuits… but ours end with parties! We do our best to be decent and fair to the skilled workers, vendors, and partners who come together to create such a fantastic product as 60 Shearer. Of course mistakes get made (sometimes by us!), but with good planning and appropriate knowledge going in, we mitigate our risk. We are so grateful and appreciative of these amazing people. We try our best to be clear-headed, decisive, unwavering, fast to pay, and nice. It seems to work out pretty well.

The buyers are lovely people, and will absolutely enjoy the property for years and years to come. Everyone involved in the real estate transaction is happy at the smooth professionalism from all parties. Our investors are happy at their return on capital. We emerge from the process with a solid return, a lot more experience, and the artistic joy of creating something beautiful.

So… yeah, everyone is happy!

Can You Share Your Profit Margin and Detail All Your Costs?

Nope :-)

What’s Next?

The market in 2023 is very different than it was in 2019 when we started. We’re not sure what the next project (or projects?) will be. We’ll scrutinize data for insights into what will be needed in 2027 when our next project would sell. We’ll reflect on what we want to do creatively (Net Zero houses! No more circular stairs!). And we’ll be keeping our eyes and ears open for opportune lots at good value. If you’ve got something we should know about, then let us know!

Thank you for joining us on this journey! And now, some images of what was, and what became: