Hardin Hills Remodel 2023

by Tom | Nov 8, 2023 | House Design

I am so proud to announce we wrapped up this incredible design and remodel of what turned out to be a very unique and one of my favorite projects. We purchased this as a fixer upper from an out-of-state family member who inherited it through Probate. Coming into the project for my first visit, it wasn’t even clear that we had such an expansive view until I cut down all the scrub trees that had overgrown the property. The home is situated at the top of a asphalt private drive and surrounded by giant Eucalyptus trees in the foothills of Mt. Helix, San Diego County. Now offered for sale at $949,000. See more info on the Zillow listing here.

When we start these projects its never clear what colors or design I want to do. The freedom of picking out everything myself and not working for a homeowner is priceless and very liberating. Being up on this hill for the first few weeks of demo it became clear that I was not comfortable going for the popular white farmhouse look with black trim. It really just wouldn’t vibe with the woodsy feeling I get from nature being up on this very special .75 acre private lot surrounded by trees and overlooking El Cajon Valley.

Searching for a deep and rich exterior paint color is challenging. Back in the grey house days we found some pretty good dark grey exterior paint colors but it was time to really blend this house with its surroundings while presenting it in a modern and trendy look. It became clear I needed a deep Olive exterior paint color for this project. I settled on Sherwin Williams SW 7745 Muddled Basil. The oversaturated and rich deep olive green tone speaks for itself. I really didn’t want to overkill the black accents so we opted to only do the facia and front door in SW 6258 Tricorn Black.

Once I got the paint color up it was clear I needed a different look with regards to fencing. Since privacy was not a big concern for this property we went with a goat wire fencing to pair with the natural enviroment and not block off the views from the driveway. I am just so happy to be able to do this and take what was a blighted eyesore and create such an awesome home for someone to enjoy. Stay tuned for more remodels coming up!

Bathroom remodel Green Button Homes 2023

2023 Santee Project

by Tom | Feb 15, 2023 | House Design, House Flipping

We finally finished the Santee project that has been center of our universe this year. Words cant describe how proud we are of the results of all this hard work. Big thanks to my talented team of workers who all made it possible. We went with a clean white pallette, light wood accents and flat panel upper kitchen cabinets this time. The Terrazzo fireplace and wood veneer slatwall detail under the bar are my favorite features for sure. Outside I went with all white and the trim is a soothing blue/grey color. We did new roof and central air conditioning as well. My crew even blew in all new attic insulation to combat the tough Santee summers! This property is now listed in the MLS for sale at $849,000. MLS# 20002963

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New Santee Project 2023

by Tom | Jan 1, 2023 | House Flipping, San Diego Real Estate Market

Santee, CA has really changed over the years. I am excited to be back over here starting our second remodel for 2023. If you have not been to Santee in a while, you might not recognize it. There is a whole new shopping center called Trolley Square with a trolley stop and all the best stores, shops and eateries.

We bought this home from a tired landlord with the tenant in it who has lived in the home for 30 years! Very nice people to deal with, we made them a very fair offer and beat out another investors price to get the deal. I worked with the tenants to relocate after we closed the sale. This is a really awesome pocket of Santee, I have some really cool ideas to try out on this remodel and plan to take it up a notch on the material choices. Stay tuned for a great project!

Back in Clairemont!

by Tom | Dec 31, 2022 | House Design, San Diego Real Estate Market

We are back in Clairemont to kick off 2023. We bought this property direct from the out-of-state owner saving them all the expense and hassle of using an agent. Fun fact is that in 2004 we flipped an exact model-match home on this very same street. That is over 18 years ago! Green Button Homes, the original San Diego Cash Homebuyer. They hired a local attorney to look over our paperwork, here is his Green Button Homes testimonial:

“Recently I had the pleasure of working with Tom Tarrant of Green Button Homes LLC in San Diego. Tom was an efficient and detail oriented businessperson who treated those he worked with fairly and with respect. I would be happy to work with him again in the future.”

Steven Haskins, Real Estate Attorney and Licensed Real Estate Broker

Green Button Homes is the original “We Buy Houses” company in San Diego. In business for over 17 years, we have bought 100’s of homes hassle-free directly from sellers with no agents involved. Being a family owned small local business, we take pride in creating win-win solutions and improving the neighborhoods we love one house at a time. Receive an offer for your San Diego property.

Eastlake Sold!

by Tom | Oct 29, 2022 | San Diego Real Estate Market

SOLD! This great Chula Vista home sold to a very nice family from the area and with relatives nearby. It’s great to see this happen and we are so proud of making this a very special home for this wonderful family. Green Button Homes (619) 438-0234 tom@greenbuttonhomes.com. We Buy Houses in Chula Vista and surrounding areas.

Eastlake Project and Falling Home Prices

by Tom | Aug 17, 2022 | House Design, House Flipping, San Diego Real Estate Market

Just wrapped up another great project down in South Bay near the Eastlake/Otay neighborhoods. This is really a great family home located on a pride of ownership culdesac in a newer track home development originally built by McMillian in the 1990’s. The floorplan is really familiar and reflective of a lot of homes built in the 90’s in San Diego.

The San Diego real estate market is in the beginning stages of a what we think is a huge correction. We are now seeing median home prices drop for the first time in 13 years. Needless to say, all this was fueled by QE and low mortgage rates. The market seemed to peak around May 2022, since then we have lost 10% on median home prices. Nobody thought prices would drop with less than 2 months of inventory, but I predicted this would happen and we adjusted our buying criteria to be safe. As of August 12, 2022 the San Diego median home price is $805,000, down from $865,000 on June 3rd.

With inflation and higher interest rates, the squeeze is on. Affordability is at a 40-year low so combined with plummeting consumer confidence from the recession, buyers are feeling cause for concern. Almost 30% of homes in San Diego listed for sale have reduced asking prices at this time. The days of 20 offers on the first weekend and $100k overbidding are long gone but this is a healthy situation needed to move into a more normal market.

The home is 5 bedroom, 3 bath with 2400 s.f. We did a complete remodel with all new surfaces. Newer homes like this are usually a breeze because the electrical and plumbing are in good shape and there is no need to make floor plan improvements. There was an April identical floorplan home that sold before the decline for over $200,000 more than we are asking! This is a great deal and reflective of the new normal.

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Rancho Penasquitos Townhome

by Tom | May 23, 2022 | House Design, House Flipping, San Diego Real Estate Market

New townhome in Rancho Penasquitos with Poway School District!! We bought this home direct from the owner this Spring “as-is” and took it with a problem tenant who had not paid rent in 2 years using COVID as the excuse. After $2,500.00 in attorney fees and multiple trips to the property trying to convince her to leave, I finally got the keys. Entering the property was quite a shock, they had left everything behind and it was quite a mess.

Real Estate prices have jumped in this complex, my exit price projection based on comparable sales was only $430,000 when I bought it. It’s on the market now and all redone for $499,000-$549,000 MLS# 220012628 and in the award winning Poway Unified School District. This is the second-best school district in the San Diego area and 14th best in California for those of you looking for good schools in San Diego. Listed with Atkin Homes. We had 6 showings yesterday and don’t see a problem getting what we want for this great townhome in Rancho Penasquitos. Stay tuned!

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Allied Gardens is Live!

by Tom | May 10, 2022 | House Design, House Flipping, Kitchens, San Diego Real Estate Market

Our newly completed Allied Gardens bungalow is so cute! We are certainly loving the transformation on this house flipping project. This unique property with great elevation is located on a very private and quiet Allied Gardens street with surrounding views. The inviting front porch just makes you want to take a seat and relax after work while seeing your neighbors out and about walking their dogs. The vertical large house numbers and the horizontal porch rail design gives it a beachy coastal vibe. Just listed for $899,900 and now on the market. MLS# 220011058

The front door color is SW 7701 Cavern Clay. This is a play on a traditional red front door but modernized to fit our palette. Leaning more terra cotta, it has brown undertones and really went well with the existing brown roof. Keep in mind these real estate photos are shot in HDR. In person this color is not so orange.

My accent siding choice is SW 7046 Anonymous. It also is a greyish-brown to tie into the brown roof. This is my first time using this Sherwin Williams color on a house we bought to flip, I wanted something bold for this siding panel and it makes a great statement. Picking exterior house colors to go with a brown roof can be tricky, I am very happy with what we pulled off here.

We really made this floorplan work by opening up the wall and rearranging the kitchen layout with a small island, walking into this home you would never feel it is only just over 1000 square feet. The original kitchen had the sink in the corner under the window, this definitely wasn’t going to work so we moved it to the island along with the dishwasher as our only choice.

Tons of light comes in and makes this space feel very welcoming. I went lighter than we normally do also on the waterproof flooring material to make the space feel larger. Using a LVP material or waterproof flooring allows us to seamlessly run the flooring through the wet area being the kitchen. We even managed to squeeze in a pantry with the new configuration as well as leave a generous allowance of space for a dining room table.

Once again I kept the bathroom tile choice very clean and timeless, not getting too trendy. White subway tile in large format is combined with wood-look porcelain floor tile and matching niche. It truly is the perfect little bungalow for a family starting out or a young professional from nearby Mission Valley or Kaiser Hospital. I just love the Allied Gardens vibe, it’s very sophisticated but hip.

Stay tuned and we will see how the market reacts. Even though we went live on Mothers Day weekend we are getting showings and the feedback has been great. Selling a home at this time of the year is no prooblem in San Diego, the market is still holding up and with the San Diego Median Home Price now $1,000,000 this is right in line for being completely redone.

Otay Mesa is SOLD!

by Tom | Apr 14, 2022 | San Diego Real Estate Market

Hooray, after multiple offers we opened escrow with a military family and the house is now sold! Congrats to the new owners who were VA Loan buyers. A lot of investors here in San Diego and house flippers hesitate to accept a VA financed offer. The real estate agent representing this VA Buyer did a good job so we went with them and crossed our fingers.

VA appraisals can be strict sometimes but I wanted to sell to this buyer because we had other military families all living right around the property from what I observed. They offered $802k and I knew it would likely not appraise as the highest comps were around $770,000.

Home values in San Diego have been increasing around $10k a month but this appraiser did not give me a penny over the last sale of $770k. Any time a VA appraisal comes in short it gets sent to an online portal called Tidewater. Here, you have an opportunity to rebut the low appraisal and try and get it bumped up. It all worked out, the buyer chipped in an extra $10,000 out of their pocket and we ate $22,000 so the final sales price was $780,000.

Still an awesome deal and I am happy to make a dream come true for a military family. On to the next house!

Otay Mesa is Done!

by Tom | Mar 13, 2022 | House Design, House Flipping, San Diego Real Estate Market

We just wrapped up a really nice remodel here in San Diego down South near Mexico in Otay Mesa. This is a great entry level neighborhood and a good choice for military or anyone wanting to be close to the border or Imperial Beach without spending a million bucks. We listed at $769,900.

I am so happy with how it came out, we did everything new from the windows to the flooring. It’s a 3 bedroom, 2 bath and the best part besides the awesome military neighbors is the direct access to the 7-acre Montgomery-Waller Community Park and Rec Center in the back yard. I kept the home design and colors very easy and safe.

The exterior stucco color is Sherwin Williams SW 6149 Relaxed Khaki. I love using this neutral color when we have an existing brown roof to work with. The trim outside is SW 7005 Pure White and the front door pop color is my favorite Behr 480F-4 Mermaid Net.

For the interior walls I have been using Sherwin Williams Drift Of Mist SW 9166. This is a great color but it can be tricky and show grey undertones depending on what kind of light you are getting in the rooms. If you have a sunny location it’s almost off-white with a hint of green. This property is a true winner, hurry before it is gone!

Home staging by: Universal Staging Company

Green Button Homes™ is the original “We Buy Houses” company in San Diego. With 17 years experience we are here to help you navigate your off-market and private home sale process. We make it easy to sell your house “as-is” and with no real estate agents. We always buy houses in their current condition and never ask for repairs or credits once we sign a deal. A local escrow company is used to handle to transaction and we cover all the costs. It is even possible to close on the property with a tenant in place and/or buy your home and give you time to move. Please give is a call, text or email and lets work together to find an arrangement that creates a win-win for both parties!

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New Otay Mesa Project!

by Tom | Feb 25, 2022 | House Design, House Flipping, San Diego Real Estate Market

Look at this new purchase we just made down near the Mexico/USA border in Otay Mesa! This house was a long term rental with a lot of deferred maintenance although it is on a great street with really good neighbors. I had been in disussions with this homeowner for quite a while and then when COVID hit (they actually got sick) the plans to sell the house were put on hold.

I always personally follow up with the leads we get. When you sell to us you deal with me personally through the whole transaction. Hundreds of San Diego homeowners have sold to me personally over the years. I have more experience navigating through the sale process than most real state agents. We always use a local escrow company that handle the transactions for us. These sellers appreciated my non-pushy nature and we finally struck a deal and closed the sale within 2 weeks with the tenant in place. Selling a house usually requires cleaning and fixing things as well as getting it vacant. In this case I acquired the tenants with the house and worked with them in a legal and ethical manner to relocate. In the case of this property, we paid $40,000 more than a competitor that solicited them! With 15 years of local homebuying experience, we are the most trusted choice for an easy home sale in San Diego with no realtors involved getting commissions.

Stay tuned for the remodel on this one and we appreciate referrals and are always looking to buy more houses in San Diego.

Vista Flip Sold!

by Tom | Feb 12, 2022 | House Design

No sooner did this hit the market than we got multiple offers and it is now SOLD to the new owner. We got $860,000 which was way more than anticipated in the sellers market we are experiencing in San Diego. This was a massive project that took 2 months to remodel. We hauled off 9 dumpsters of debris from the property during the job. This was one of the best lots at the end of a private culdesac and coming in at nearly 1/3 of an acre.

The house was a 3 bedroom, 2 bath with a huge master suite that included attached indoor laundryroom and a fireplace. This area of Vista in San Diego is a little more commercial than most areas we work in but it was a nice location just a block from a Elementary school. We did everything possible to this house from a new roof down to fixing a crack in the slab foundation.

We opened up this kitchen to make the most of our space. Clean white Shaker cabinets and quartz counterops were used per our normal package. I love the open shelving area next to the fridge and the abundance of white subway tile gives a real timeless look that wont go out of style. Home design trends for 2022 have leaned a little more modern, but I hesitate to follow so as to appeal to most homebuyers. We buy a lot of houses FSBO, For Sale By Owner to remodel and resell.

We bought this property directly from an out-of-state landlord who was tired of the tenants and lack of timely rent payments. We paid cash and took it “as-is” and it took almost a year to get things turned around.

We left the backyard a huge blank canvas for the future homeowner to create the space of their dreams however I did add a gravel driveway guessing that someone would have big trucks who would want to live in this location. You never know who will end up buying the property, my landscaper fell in love with it but the buyer ended up not even having the need for it.

The colors for this project were:

Exterior Siding: James Hardi Evening Blue

*special note. The pics are shot in HDR and do not accurately reflect this true color which is way darker and more of a grey/blue.

Exterior Trim: SW Pure White

Interior Walls: SW Drift of Mist

Interior Trim: SW Snowbound

Big Clean Up in Vista

by Tom | Dec 15, 2021 | San Diego Real Estate Market

We got our hands full with this remodel. I bought this property in Vista, CA directly from an out-of-state landlord, the tenant has been in this house for 15 years and has not paid rent in the last 2 years. We made the seller a good cash offer to buy the house considering the condition and situation, also agreeing to take over the headache with these tenants in default.

The seller was in a time crunch having identified a vacation cabin in Big Bear that they wanted to do a 1031 tax deferred exchange into. We closed in 1 week as-is and then introduced ourselves to these tenants and started the legal process of getting them relocated.

This may look overwhelming but it is essentially just a bunch of trash that needs to be cleaned up. Once we clean everything up we can start with the remodel as usual by getting styarted putting a new roof on. If you have a house that you want to sell in San Diego, we are the most trusted local homebuyer and would love to take a look.

We buy houses “as-is” and take care of all the transaction expenses using a local escrow company. With 17 years in the house flipping business, we have more experience than anyone in town and can assure you a very easy process of selling your unwanted home. Any conditon is o.k. and we love fixer uppers!

Sold in Imperial Beach Again!

by Tom | Nov 24, 2021 | House Flipping, San Diego Real Estate Market

Another great home in the books for 2021! This remodel down in Imperial Beach was completed in 6 weeks and sold to an investor as a rental house oddly enough. Usually our remodeled homes sell to people who want to live in them, not as a rental house right out of the gate. This home buyer happened to have family nearby so he wanted something to rent out now and possibly move into later.

A long time landlord sold this house to us after searching for “who buys houses in San Diego.” After speaking with them we found out that the tenant had lived in this property for many years and had made a deal to do any repairs to the home in lieu of getting their rent increased. needless to say the home had a lot of deferred maintenance so this was a perfect fit for our homebuying criteria. Any time there are things that need to be fixed or old original kitchens from 1960 its time for a total makeover and full remodel.

Green Button Homes is the original “We Buy Houses” company in San Diego. We buy homes all over San Diego County, from as far North as Oceanside or Escondido and all the way down here to the Imperial Beach/Otay Mesa area. Selling your home to us is easy, we take houses as-is, pay all the closing costs and can even close with the tenant in place. Many homebuyers in San Diego will not buy a house with an existing tenant due to the eviction laws and tenants rights. In this case we closed on the property in 2 weeks and took the tenant and worked with them fairly to relocate.

If you have a house to sell in San Diego give us a call, we are house flippers and always pay cash and love fixer-uppers. You will find it easy to deal with us as we have purchased houses from hundreds of San Diegans over our 17 years in business. Learn more about the process of selling your home to a cash buyer in San Diego by clicking here.

Exterior Paint Color: Behr 790C-3 Dolphin Fin

Interior Paint Color: SW 9166 Drift of Mist

Front Door Color: Behr Mermaid net 480F-4

Serra Mesa Remodel Video

by Tom | Sep 28, 2021 | Exterior Paint, House Flipping, Kitchens, Landscaping, San Diego Real Estate Market, Videos

It’s always fun to see the whole process after such a killer transformation. Here is a house flipping video I put together that shows what kind of love and care we put into this home over the 6-week remodel. The property is located in Serra Mesa, a San Diego centrally located neighborhood. We bought the house directly from a retiring landlord who simply wanted to cash out.

The house needed extensive repairs so we bought it “as-is” and he didn’t even have to pay realtor commissions. It is so rewarding to truly make such an impact on improving neighborhoods in the city we love. The white exterior color palette and the light wood accents are really on trend right now and our design came out just as imagined. Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for future projects. Hope you enjoy!