The good news is that our sellers had done a beautiful job over ten years of extensive remodeling from the roof to the copper plumbing and new electrical service to the garden landscaping. They were planning to live in the house for the long term. They were diligent about getting building permits for the work and invested both the money and time to do a great job. Then, when their job situation changed and they decided that they should sell, we had two offers on the property the first week on the market. But, as much as both sets of buyers loved the house, they each noticed that the kitchen permits had not been signed off by the San Francisco Building Department and both included a contingency in their contract?that the sellers have kitchen permit signed off before closing escrow. In San Francisco all property transfers of one to four residential units require that the seller provide the buyer with what we call a Report of Residential Building Records--or ?3R? report. It contains a lot of information, including a list of all Building Department permits on file with the city. It does not include plumbing and electrical permits. The status of each permit is shown as one of the following: C--work was completed I--permit has been issued N--no record was found X--the permit expired (work not started or not completed) Fortunately, the seller was prepared and could commit to getting the final sign off from the city. They had the Job Card from 2005 for the kitchen work and it showed sign offs for the rough framing and from both the plumbing and electrical inspectors on the rough work. Their contractor was still around and they pulled new permits to get the city inspectors to revisit the house. They were able to schedule electrical, plumbing and building inspectors to come in and sign off on the completed work. Years from now when they want to sell, the buyers don?t have to worry about what the 3R will show. And the question of unpermitted work won?t be raised if they apply for city permits to do some other work in the house. This story has a happy ending as the sellers get to move on and the new buyers are happy with their new home. If you are remodeling, even if you have no expectations of moving, it is much easier to get the permits and get the inspections completed while the work is in progress rather than later. These days buyers may quite likely to insist on those completed permits as part of any purchase.