{"id":4384,"date":"2012-11-12T10:07:56","date_gmt":"2012-11-12T10:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/2012\/11\/12\/1243-lancashire-drive-flip-flop\/"},"modified":"2012-11-12T10:07:56","modified_gmt":"2012-11-12T10:07:56","slug":"1243-lancashire-drive-flip-flop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hunterwimmer.com\/redneckmodern\/2012\/11\/12\/1243-lancashire-drive-flip-flop\/","title":{"rendered":"1243 Lancashire Dr. \/\/ Flip-flop"},"content":{"rendered":"

(or… When bad things happen to good Eichlers)<\/p>\n

I've noticed a few things when photographing Eichler homes for the past five years: (1) How much I love my Canon G9 camera (even more than my much more robust Nikon dSLR); (2) How a little bit of effort in the wrong direction can make a house look passable at twenty feet, but reveal itself to be terrible at two feet; and (3) how the good bones of an Eichler combined with fairly decent photography amplifies the "passable" notion noted above.<\/p>\n

Case in point: 1243 Lancashire<\/a>. This house is a terrible flip (and I'll detail that below), but when editing these pictures, they actually don't look bad… but don't let this fool you. This is a bad flip in all the wrong directions \u2014 not just aesthetically, but functionally (and safety-based). Buyer beware. It's not unsalvageable, but it will take some effort \u2014 and funds.<\/p>\n

This house was purchased a few months ago<\/a> for about $330K and is now on the market<\/a> for about $450K… with $120K, one could have done great things, but sadly, this is not the case here. The shortcuts that were taken combined with the already questionable state of the house leaves a buyer with a home that might look OK from a distance, but might be a headache later on.<\/p>\n

First, let's start with the "stop work" notice pinned to the kitchen wall. That's always a good sign, right? It seems that every "update" to the house was unpermitted. Combined with some very obvious code violations in the house this makes for a very shady situation.<\/p>\n

\"124301\"<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Next let's move on to a picture of the "before" house. While it's great that this house will get new owners, it's still unfortunate that the remodelers didn't do a better job.<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/p>\n

The outside sure looks better now, although I have to wonder about the practicality of the clear glass on the front of the house \u2014 I would think that this would have been privacy glass as original \u2014 most likely Mistlite as with the other privacy windows. This model has no atrium and \u2014 as you can see \u2014 when stepping into the carport, you're looking right into (and through) the house.<\/p>\n

\"124327\"<\/p>\n

\"124327\"<\/p>\n

\"124327\"[Lots of conduits running all over the place makes for an interesting view]<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Moving around to the side of the house, you'll notice RV parking \u2014 lots of it \u2014 with loads of questionable electrical (and structure) pulled from god-knows-where. This is a pervasive element throughout the house. Lots of non-code-compliant or questionable "upgrades". Having lived in and worked on many Eichlers, mystery electrical is perhaps the worst thing you can encounter. There are open connections, redundant lines, mystery outlets \u2014 it's a mess. And with electrical, that also invited the potential for danger.<\/p>\n

\"124326\"[There is really random conduit running everywhere]<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Moving to the inside of the house, you'll find:<\/p>\n