San Jose: Crews use huge trucks to clear junk from hoarder home

By Mark Gomez, San Jose Mercury News
Posted:   03/15/2012 06:24:40 AM PDT, Updated:   03/15/2012 08:03:03 AM PDT

Crews were in their second day at a San Jose home removing mountains of debris so massive that workers used two hauling trucks, each capable of carrying 72,380 pounds of material, to get the job done.

As of Wednesday morning, they still hadn’t made their way into the backyard.

The extreme makeover at 226 S. Claremont Ave. began Tuesday after a vote last month by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors to declare the residence a public nuisance. The piles of junk, garbage and other items, including worn out bicycles, car tires and animal cages, had become so vast that it was visible from satellite photos.

The cleanup, which is expected to take about five days, ends a years-long struggle for neighbors who live in the otherwise well-kept neighborhood located off Alum Rock Avenue.

Thanks very much to Burbed reader Tracy Tea House, who had sent in an earlier story about the residents complaining about the massive piles of garbage at this house.  Looks like once this story hit both what’s left of a newspaper as well as on KGO-7 television news, the County finally took action.

Neighbors have been trying to have the grounds cleaned up since 2005.  Cleanup orders and fines were ignored by Richard Baker, the 58 year old son of the registered homeowners.  People fortunate enough to live near this local attraction suggested that Richard might be a few hundred square feet short of a McMansion.

Robert and Bessie Baker, Richard Baker’s parents, have both been deceased for ten years, so management of the house was transferred to the Office of the Public Guardian.  This agency will be responsible for inventorying whatever is in the house, as opposed to the mountains of garbage outside mostly headed for the landfill.  Anything of value inside or out would be saved for the Bakers’ estate, over and above this valuable residence.  In addition to Richard, the Bakers also have a daughter living in Santa Cruz who was only located recently.

Richard had been living in the house while collecting treasures, but not recently.  He did show up at the County hearing to object to the the home’s being declared a public nuisance, although the neither the Murk nor KGO-7 reported on what his reasons were.  He attempted to postpone the hearing because he had been in the hospital, but was unsuccessful. We’d guess the County’s embarrassment over things getting to this point trumped a hospital stay.  Remember all those fines Richard blew off?  Guess they did.

Okay, enough rewording the newspaper and TV articles.  Let’s have a look at this house.

Better have a good look at the driveway, too.

Wow, the Streetviews actually look worse than the satellite view.  And someone updated this record recently even though the house wasn’t for sale.

So here’s a way Richard (right) and his sister (who had the sense not to show up when cameras were rolling) could save even more money.  We know the County’s going to stick them with that clean-up bill, so every little bit is going to help!

Thanks for the advice, Trulia!  Anyway, do you have a neighbor building a fortification on the front lawn like this?  Tell us about it in today’s Weekend Open Thread!

Foreclosure rattles upscale San Jose neighborhood, and tenants

By Pete Carey, San Jose Mercury News
Posted:   03/14/2012 05:53:36 PM PDT, Updated: 03/15/2012 10:14:37 AM PDT

The two-story home in the East San Jose foothills could belong to any well-to-do family, but step through the door and you’re inside a million-dollar suburban foreclosure quagmire.

More than a dozen adults and their pets have been living in a warren of rented rooms in the foreclosed house, turning a tranquil cul-de-sac into what one upset neighbor called "a nightmare for all of us living on that block."

According to attorneys for the tenants, the former owner was renting out rooms — including the laundry room and a living room split in two — in the months after the home was foreclosed by the bank. They claim she never told tenants about the foreclosure. Now the tenants face eviction in a hearing to be held Thursday in Santa Clara County Superior Court.

San Jose police officers have responded 16 times since September to resolve disputes and disturbances at the five bedroom, four bath home on La Castellet Court, where houses are valued at $1 million or more. The city’s code enforcement department says it has an open case on the house.      

Remember the Cubicle House?  This owner simply took that idea one step further now that rentals beat office space.

For all of you who have been criticizing the idea of The Real Bay Area versus The Part That Is Not, this should definitively settle those arguments.  Things like this simply Do Not Happen In The Real Bay Area.  If someone in Los Altos Hills were to notice 15 cars parked along the street in front of the 4,000 square foot housing tumor next door, Code Enforcement would not merely say they have “an open case on the house.”

And in Palo Alto, every one of those vehicles would have collected parking tickets within 2 hours and 10 minutes.

Anyway, our intrepid reporters have tracked down the house in question.

Unfortunately for purposes of journalistic outrage, the Streetview photo does not have the aforementioned excess vehicle collection.

Zillow can show us the neighborhood values.

Homeowners here certainly may have paid over a million for this area, but Zillow has a disturbing lack of faith in their reported valuations.  The expressway-like street against the backyards is Aborn. 

And if you’re wondering why the FB felt the need to fill this home chock-a-block with tenants while hiding from Bank of America, wait until you hear the bubblicious price paid for this place: $1,580,000 on Halloween of 2006. 

Here’s a peach of a property courtesy of Burbed reader Swan, complete with an agent who ought to look into some alternate nicknames.

1980 HEATHERDALE Ave
San Jose, CA 95126
$475,000

BEDS: 4
BATHS: 2.5
SQ. FT.: 1,550
$/SQ. FT.: $306
LOT SIZE: 6,360 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STORIES: 1
VIEW: Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT: 1946
COMMUNITY: Santa Clara
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81208684
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 6 days

Move in conditions, up dated kitchen and baths. Well maintained 4 bedrooms plus one additional master bedroom. Large level back yard , 2 car side by side. Apartment complex at back of this house. Short sale , 2 lender’s ( 2 loans )

Here’s what Swan thought about this place:

I came across this listing today and found it possibly Burbed-worthy.  First, the realtor’s name is Lucky Chan.  In my experience, any person or animal named Lucky is usually the opposite.  This realtor should change his name to Honest.  He is very honest in the listing:  apartment complex at the back of the house (yup, sure is), short sale (have fun looking at the price history on Zillow), and two lenders (that can’t be good).  Last we have "2 car side by side."  Do the cars come with the house?  Where are the lucky 8s in the price?  Anyway, someone buy this quickly so Lucky can get lucky. 

For a short sale, this property is in surprisingly acceptable shape… that is, for what little we get to see of it.  I do wonder why, given how little clutter was left in the yard, why we’re looking at any of it.  It would have taken all of 2 minutes to move that ladder and the blue ball out of the frame above, and another 2 for the small collection of patio crap at left.  I guess it was easier to simply go for the soft-focus effect.

And Honest, or Lucky, could have been even more honest by telling us about this home’s excellent location, location, location.  Not only is there an apartment complex behind it, you’re also really close to transportation!

Plus let’s take a quick peek at the neighborhood.

Awesome!  A gated home next door, plus on-street parking is at a premium.  Looks like you’ll be having all kinds of spirited discussions with your neighbors! 

All this and a house old enough to collect Social Security.  Maybe you’ll get Lucky, too.

Let’s finish out our workweek with a magnificent Menlo Park manse, courtesy of Burbed reader Moxie Girl.  And fortunately, Moxie has enough to say about this luscious listing that she’s sitting in as today’s Guest Blogger.

So please give her a big, warm, Real Bay Area welcome and enjoy this Burbed Guest Post!

1427 GARWOOD Way (Unable to map)
Menlo Park, CA 94025
$699,950

BEDS: 3
BATHS: 2.5
SQ. FT.: 1,655
$/SQ. FT.: $423
LOT SIZE: 4,503 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STYLE: Traditional
STORIES: 2
VIEW: Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT: 2000
COMMUNITY: Middlefield to El Camino
COUNTY: San Mateo
MLS#: 81207110
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 13 days

Fantastic like new 3BD/2.5BA for under $700,000 in Menlo Park. Spacious living area, hardwood floors, crown molding, new paint & carpets and beautiful kitchen wih granite counter top tiles, walk in pantry. Private yard with deck & grass area. Close to downtown. Price is right!

I found another gem. This one is based in Menlo Park, for which I have deep affection, having worked and briefly rented there for some years. But hold the train (literally), folks, here is an RBA winner. Now this is clearly a steal: RBA real estate in the highly desired downtown Menlo Park area, and such a bargain it’s priced for $699,950, which just squeaks by at $50 under $700,000. But how can this be, you ask? Surely nothing in the desirable 94025 zip code can be for sale for such a ridiculously low price! Au contraire, mon ami.

Now, the first glaring bit of information that is odd is the “unable to map” in the header line of the address. Clearly the real estate agent thinks savvy buyers are incapable of mapping the true address of this property.

Luckily for us, one of Redfin’s cracking real estate team does note from a tour last September that the property is literally next door to a PG&E power facility. AND, based on the Google map…within about 20 steps of Caltrain train tracks. That’s right. Southern view/bedroom window: power facility; eastern view/from front door: gravelly train tracks. So you’ll be humming and/or rattling to your heart’s content as you revel in the fact that you are now living in the sought-after 94025 zip code you always longed for.

Well played, “Eliz. Bianchini, Coldwell Banker-Woodside” (from Redfin listing). Can we really trust someone to publish correct information about a listing when she can’t be bothered to fully spell out her first name? Just wondering.

If you take a look at the right column, you may have noticed the Category list of all the different kinds of postings covered on Burbed.  Most of them are place names: cities, counties, and San Jose neighborhoods.  With six years of content on the site, there’s still plenty of filing to clean up, and I’m always finding older pieces that weren’t classified correctly.

So while doing a little housekeeping around here, I was rather stunned to find just how little love Burbed had shown to Foster City. Despite the large number of San Mateo County properties featured here, there’s been exactly one house in FC given some proper Burbed attention.  How could that have happened?  Did the Foster City Board of Real Estate Agents make our hosting service an offer that they’re now priced out of forever?

Anyway, it’s time to fix this oversight.  Today we have a find from the City that isn’t just By The Bay, it’s built right over it!

1049 EGRET St
Foster City, CA 94404
$600,000

BEDS: 5
BATHS: 2
SQ. FT.: 1,930
$/SQ. FT.: $311
LOT SIZE: 5,700 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STORIES: 1
VIEW: Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT: 1965
COMMUNITY: Bay Vista
COUNTY: San Mateo
MLS#: 81144613
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Pending With Release
ON REDFIN: 133 days

Great family home in nice and quiet location. Lots of bedrooms & sqft. Clean and well maintained. 2 master suites.

Oh, there’s the problem with this home selling.  Too many 4s in the zip code, plus a “bunus” one in the street address.  Somebody must have made an offer based on these wonderful photographs instead.  I especially like the artist’s use of light here.

And what better way to comment on the anomie of life on soft landfill than these disjoint pieces of furniture in the bedroom?  Why, by contrasting it with this bustling bathroom, complete with symbolic bright red cup as the focal point.  Readers are invited to surmise just what it represents.

Plus handy, escape-proof enclosures in both front and back yards, to contain small children and/or vigorous houseplants.  “Bunus”: Never have to yell at neighbor kids to stay off your lawn!

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend, everyone.  Now that you’re all done with President’s Week, it’s time to get back to work, and that means back to finding a house to buy or sell!  Burbed reader sonarrat has a regal regular sale for you in Sunnyvale!

1053 BLAZINGWOOD Dr
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
$469,000

BEDS: 3
BATHS: 2
SQ. FT.: 1,000
$/SQ. FT.: $469
LOT SIZE: 5,500 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STORIES: 1
VIEW: Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT: 1955
COMMUNITY: Sunnyvale
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81113044
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 338 days

this is a regular sale, open floor plan, close to 101 and 237, great house in a quiet neighborhood, close to stores. there’s a bonus room in the back, seller is renting for $800.00. Permits unknown.

Here’s why sonarrat thought everyone would love this place:

Sold for $230K in 2008. Wow!

Wow! is right!  This house is so full of wow, they couldn’t run any other pictures, for fear of inducing heart attacks throughout area code 408 from the excitement.  So let’s see what else we can find.  First, Google Streetview.

A walled estate!  Just lovely!  Now, let’s check out the neighborhood.

E-Z Commute, too!

Hmm, this Streetview shot (obtained by clicking along Lawrence Expressway, and making right turns at Sandia and Blazingwood) looks okay.  It sure looks better than the only picture of the house on the listing.  Do you get the impression they don’t really want to sell this house despite the claimed “regular sale”?  It must be filled with platinum bars or something!  No wonder the permits are unknown.

Restitution ordered for man convicted of stealing house

By JESSICA M. PASKO – Santa Cruz Sentinel, Posted:   02/03/2012 02:06:34 PM PST

Photo at right: Raymond Tate (on right), convicted house thief, appearing in court with attorney Steve LeBerge, in 2009.  (Shmuel Thaler/Sentinel)

SANTA CRUZ – A Santa Cruz man convicted in 2010 of stealing a Ben Lomond home will have to pay $1,895 in restitution to the rightful owners, a judge ruled Friday.

Raymond Tate sentenced in May 2010 to five months in County Jail and three years’ probation for felony charges of filing false property records and conspiracy. According to court records, Tate was able to use a typographical error on the deed for a Hubbard Gulch Road to pose as the owner of the house and file false documents with the county recorder to support his case.

While the rightful owners were on vacation in 2009, Tate sold the home to someone else. When the owners returned, they found their belongings moved to the garage, the locks changed and a stranger living in their house. The occupant, Daniel Judd, said he bought the house from Tate and later admitted he was part of the plot to take the home. Judd is currently on probation in Santa Clara County.

Burbed will take a hard-hitting stand in opposition to house theft, whether or not in the Real Bay Area.  However, we are obligated to point out the advantages of owning an RBA house, should you be so unfortunate as to find it stolen.  There is absolutely no way that someone guilty of grand theft housing (as opposed to this petty larceny) would be given such a slap on the wrist.  Read further into this story, and you will discover that the legal owners of the house claimed $5,700 in actual damages.  The reduced amount awarded no doubt reflects the non-RBA discount applied to all homes that are not Special enough.

This is the house in question, in case you have any concerns about its worthiness.  It’s a 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath red-tag special, for which the proper owners paid $50,000 for in 2007.  It was also sliding down a hill.  Perhaps it was not sliding when the previous owners paid $130,000 for it just two years earlier.

The disputed house on Hubbard Gulch Road (Shmuel Thaler/Sentinel)

You won’t learn this in the article above, which is woefully deficient in what is otherwise a fascinating story.  But The Sentinel does list several of its previous articles covering all the house wrangling.  Click on through for a twisty little maze of real estate fraud.

(more…)

We’ve got an awesome Guest Post for you today from Burbed reader Fun Dip, and it’s right in the back yard of Apple Computers!  As you all know, Cupertino has a reputation for having the highest prices for the most boring, unexceptional, bland (did I say boring?) tract houses anywhere in the Real Bay Area.

So how much would you have to pay for a Cupertino house you might stop and take a look at?  And would you stop if it were hidden among a group of others just like it?

Please give a big, warm, RBA welcome to Fun Dip, today’s Guest Blogger!

10351 S TANTAU Ave
Cupertino, CA 95014
$1,868,000

BEDS: 4
BATHS: 4
SQ. FT.: 3,628
$/SQ. FT.: $515
LOT SIZE: 9,375 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STYLE: Mediterranean
STORIES: 2
VIEW: Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT: 2011
COMMUNITY: Cupertino
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81201986
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 6 days

Spectacularly appointed throughout – this house is simply sticking. This Luxury home, which is one year old house has never been lived in. Brazilian Cherry Hardwood Flooring, Custom Marble Inlay, Exquisite Chandeliers and Recessed Lighting, Gourmet Kitchen, Stainless Steel Appliances, Custom Designed Tiled Flooring, Two Gas Fireplaces, Downstairs Bedroom & Full Bathroom – OH Sat & Sun 12-5

This house is on the WRONG side of Cupertino!

Check out this truly awesome house.  You can get completely lost in the beauty of this house.  So much so, that once I got to the ending pictures of the patio overlooking the rolling stretches of hills, I suddenly realized those rolling hills were just my imagination and that roof sitting two feet away really is the neighbor’s.

I mean, even for a Cupertino rebuild, this goes over the top… You would expect to be squarely inside the RBA to have to go for a build like this.  This is just Cupertino High at Monte Vista prices…

And two houses down?  Also on the market!

19147 TWIG Ln
Cupertino, CA 95014
$1,599,850

BEDS: 4
BATHS: 3.5
SQ. FT.: 3,753
$/SQ. FT.: $426
LOT SIZE: 9,789 Sq. Ft.
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STYLE: Mediterranean
STORIES: 2
VIEW: Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT: 2007
COMMUNITY: Cupertino
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81201949
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Pending Without Release
ON REDFIN: 7 days

This home is truly One of a Kind! Custom Built, Barely 5 yrs old. Exquisitely elegant, yet family friendly. Fine appointment throughtout-Cherry Hardwood Flooring downstairs. Gourmet Kitchen-open to nook and family room. Stainless Appliances. Built-in Cabinetry throughout. Downstairs Bedroom w/ full bath. Expansive suite upstairs-Too special to miss–

(I’ll let you see the awesomeness around the front doors of this one for yourself, I just can’t bring myself to say it.)

This doesn’t seem a little like the first house for sale?  Or pretty much similar to the house in between these two?

wtf, is there a secret underground tunnel connecting these houses?  The houses look so similar, I initially didn’t realize there was a house in between them when looking on Street View.

And check out the description on the second listing.  “This home is truly One of A Kind!”  Really?  Are you sure?  “One of a Kind” as in this McMansion is nothing like the two McMansions right next to it?  Or does making “One of a Kind” in capital letters mean it’s pretty much the same as the one next to it, and slightly not as nice as the one after that?

So what is going on here?  A midday hideaway for a former Apple executive? (rest in peace, dude).  I mean, if I had that kind of money and wanted to build a place to retreat near work, I would definitely build multiple houses in case my wife came over.  Or is someone trying to put this stretch of land back into the RBA?  Let’s face it, as far as Tiger Moms go, crossing over De Anza Blvd might as well be crossing over 101.  I’m really interested to see what happens to these!

Oh right, pan down to the end of Twig lane on Street View (two houses down).  Nice truck… Nicer trailer!

What with all the server problems this past weekend, maybe it’s time to step out for an early getaway this week.  Fortunately, Burbed reader The Klek has a destination in mind.

2010 Vallemar
Moss Beach, CA 94038
$4,875,000; delisted on 11/1/2011

Yr. Built: 2009
Builder: —
Sqft (land | living): 12500 land | 4370 living

Bed | Bath: 4.0 bd | 4.5 ba

Property Taxes: $15,414.22 (2009)

Stories: 2

Yes, I’m linking to Trulia instead of Redfin this time because Trulia was kind enough to save the photos despite the listing going off market.

Here’s what The Klek has to say about the property:

Maybe you can help me solve the mystery of 2010 Vallemar in Moss Beach).

The house never had a for sale sign but you couldn’t miss the $4.8 million price tag which is, uh, shockingly high for the area and the house isn’t even gold plated! The realtard still has the house listed as active but SFBlockshopper said it was recently delisted. Was this one of those vanity listings where the owner smugly laughs at all the people with distant dreams of upscale homeownership? And how was this property ever accessed at that value? Or is that property actually a quantum bubble of the RBA, circa 2007??

Here’s the listing copy from the agent site:

Enjoy the best of ocean front living from the newest construction on the San Mateo Coastline.  Located on a wide double lot of over 12,000 sq. ft. with durable materials, exciting architecture and spacious rooms, no expense was spared in creating this masterpiece while subtly blending with the environment.  Understated from the street and shielded with beautiful courtyard walls, maximum attention has been given to creating a sheltered water front experience.

Smooth alder cabinets with cherry finish and Travertine -Tuscani Procini flooring are in all rooms except bedrooms.  Brazilian white bay granite enhances the kitchen counters and fireplace surrounds.  Sub-Zero, Bosch, Fisher/Pakel and Frank brands adorn the kitchen.  Hand blown custome light fixtures by Doug Brown.

The separate guest room with kitchenette also enjoys a private patio overlooking the ocean, and has direct access to the main house.  The primary master suite is on the main floor, while the guest master suite and additional bedroom are on the second floor.  Hardi-Plank siding and steel trowel smooth stucco grace the exterior.  Copper gutters, downspouts, flashings, vents and outside lights insure years of care free maintenance.  Double pane low-E glass windows, trex decking and a Hot Springs Spa add to the joy of ocean life.

It’s hard work building spec houses, let alone financing them!  Do you have any idea how much that HDR photography cost, not to mention having to wait for the one day in June that the sun came out?

Now check out what used to be in this location, location, location!

Be sure to snag this copper-guttered beach cottage, a 2010 winner at a 2006 price!

Happy New Year, everyone.  One of our New Year’s Resolutions is to keep bringing you plenty of excellent real estate finds, like today’s winner from Burbed reader Tracy.  Thanks very much.

Remember, Burbed is more than just crapboxes.  It’s community.  It’s community of crapboxes!  Without you wonderful readers sending in finds like this one, Burbed would be nothing but… uh…. interesting real estate photos.  Like these!

 

22750 STEVENS CREEK Blvd
Cupertino, CA 95014
$950,000

BEDS: 4
BATHS: 2
SQ. FT.: 1,258
$/SQ. FT.: $755
LOT SIZE: 0.25 Acres
PROPERTY TYPE: Detached Single Family
STYLE: Contemporary
STORIES: 1
VIEW: Neighborhood
YEAR BUILT: 1952
COMMUNITY: Cupertino
COUNTY: Santa Clara
MLS#: 81146749
SOURCE: MLSListings
STATUS: Active
ON REDFIN: 61 days

LARGE LOT LOVERS, GREAT OPPORTUNITY 110.96 x 100 = 11,096FT. FACING STEVENS CREEK BLVD, PERFECT FOR ENTERTAINING, MONTA VISTA SCHOOL, FIX IT NOW AND BUILT NEW HOME LATER. BRING IN ALL OFFERS, PROPERTY IS BEING OFFERED "AS IS ".

Here’s why Tracy was kind enough to share this listing with us:

Get my award for scariest pictures . How about the price 999,988. Too bad I didn’t see this before Halloween

Well if Tracy liked it at $999,988, then how do you like it at $950K?  Other than taking out those lucky eights, this is a great find, especially if you always wanted to live near a world famous newsmaking site.  And while the news is over, there will be plenty of reminders, like the ten kajillion cement trucks that will drive past your house all day, every day.

Plus check out what the GoogleCam has for this home.

Now THAT is a million dollar look in Cupertino at only 95% the price!  HURRY, Spring Bounce is just around the corner, and so is access to this house!