All Forum Posts by: Robert Marston

Which company is responsible for your waste water? For instance, for me in San Leandro it is EBMUD. Contact them too and ask what remedies are available, they may be able to guide you to city resource for repairs of this caliber. Some cities (I have experience with Castro Valley providing a monetary credit for a full sewer line replacement) have monies set aside and will reimburse you a small % upon completion of the job.

In Alameda County sewer lines need to be inspected upon sale of a home (In most cities, not the whole county) and the responsibility to fix the line coming off of the city main line (Generally located in the middle, or middle-ish of the road) falls on the owner of the home if the line is faulty. In my experience, the city does not see the tree they planted as theirs when it comes to any damage the tree may have caused however if you try to take the tree out they throw a tantrum. lol.. this has always confused me. $9k seems high, even if it were a trenchless lateral repair I'd ask for a second or third opinion on pricing. I've been party to a few of these jobs in Oakland and the average cost is $6k-ish. Best of luck!

I was a buyers agent for a deal in Alameda California a while ago where the sellers used a flat fee agent based out of Tracy. The home was newer and actually very beautiful but not staged, not cleaned, and super cluttered. The agent had no idea about the Point of Sale requirements in Alameda nor were they familiar with geographic issues that potentially affected the home. (FEMA)I was able to use those to negotiate a ~70% closing concession to my buyers(In a market where buyers are writing 0 contingency offers and paying all their closing) and got the home for 5% under what a cleaned home would have got. The listing agent only came over to do the AVID and told the sellers the market would sell their home for top dollar. Well, I got my buyer clients a SCREAMING deal because this agent did not know Alameda and used what I said to convince their sellers to give me the deal we wanted, never once questioning me. #Easy

This has been my experience with discount brokers, a lack of knowledge in the local markets and little no to sense of urgency! If this is the path you choose I would advise brushing up on any local sale requirements so that you do not put yourself in the same situation I described above, being on the side of the table that is losing money is no fun! Best of luck!! =)

Howdy!

I am not sure I can guide you to a list of all Probates in California but I know I can look up property that is listed For Sale In Probate for Alameda and Contra Costa County through my MLS. (Perks of being a Realtor!) If you are an agent you can look these up on Paragon or if you have a working relationship with an agent ask them to help ya out! If you have neither we can connect and I can show you the Probate lists I am able to generate from the MLS if you are interested!