2547 Trevor Place was a cute Second Empire cottage that any historic Preservationist or anyone with any common sense would say was a cute house with potential. The house still had its original slate roof and brackets and would be an easy restoration for anyone experienced and with a love of old houses. Not to say the house hadn't seen a rough life. It was sold in 2006 and went into foreclosure in 2007 by DeutscheBank. The property was sold to NuLife Investments LLC in 2007 for 9000.00 NuLife is a California based LLC that according to records is at 11054 VENTURA, Studio city, California. The property shows 1455.00 in unpaid property taxes.
According to city records The property was declared a hazard but the records aren't clear: according to the order the deficiencies noted were CONDEMNATION Building condemned pursuant to Section 1101-63 CBC. The foundation wall is leaning on the right rear side of building. The rear foundation wall is bulging and cracked. The cornice on the rear is defective and falling off of building. Windows are broken and the building is open to trespassers and weather. The building lacks protective paint. There did not appear to be anything that was "beyond repair"
Apparently the was service but nowhere in the notes is it apparent that the city actually spoke with the owner. There is a notation that they sent orders on 4/26/2007 because the building was open and vacant. However it appears that the house may have been in DeutscheBanks hands by then. There are a number of notation of DeutscheBank's claim of non ownership. In any event they sold it to NuLife and because the city does not record a demo order or barricade cost there would be no lien that would show up on title search. Meaning NuLife was totally 'blindsided' by the condemn order they received on 2/28/2008. Imagine you just paid for a house, did a title search and found out you bought a condemned house! the house had been declared a nuisance on 8/09/2007 though the records indicate it was noted for hazard abatement on 5/22/2007.
Nu Life listed the property with a licenced Real estate agent. Donald Adams with Paramount Property management according to the MLS record 1170958. The remarks on the listing show it listed AS IS:
"Remarks :1356 square feet per auditor. Needs total make over sold in as is condition. Make offer."
Nowhere in the listing is it mentioned that the property is condemned and slated for demolition. The property had a status of PENDING on the listing meaning an offer had been accepted. I attempted to reach Mr Adams, the listing agent for comment, but was unsuccessful.. I wanted to find out if he was even aware the house had been demolished? And I wanted to know if the pending buyer had any reaction to the fact a house they had made an offer on and an acceptance of that offer had been demolished by the city.
Below are the sad results of ANOTHER PERFECTLY RESTORABLE HOUSE senselessly demolished because the city determined it was a "blight". One can but hope that someone sues somebody over this so the city is forced to record demo orders in the future so a buyer knows what he is getting himself into. We cannot afford the loss of any more historic architecture because of this cities misguided attempts to "save' us from Blight!
demo photos by Mark Elstun
Ooops! City Bulldozes a pending SOLD house
Reviewed by citra
Published :
Rating : 4.5
Published :
Rating : 4.5
