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Monday, January 18, 2010

Jim the Realtor: Monument to Excess

by Calculated Risk on 1/18/2010 06:45:00 PM

First, from the NY Times back in April: Vandals Strip a Vacant Villa in California

Suzy Brown ... was sued by her neighbors and ran afoul of the local planning department over plans to use the villa as a “spiritual retreat” and high-end drug rehabilitation center.

But none of that prepared Ms. Brown for what happened last month when the 16,000-square-foot house fell into foreclosure. Vandals ripped out $1 million worth of fixtures, including toilets, according to a crime report filed on March 26 by a broker for Chevy Chase Bank.
...
Ms. Brown said she and 60 co-investors put $13 million into the construction and maintenance of the property, which they called Vivienda Estate, from 2004 to 2006, combining a $6 million down payment with $7 million from two mortgages and a private loan.

By the time she left last month, she had failed to make payments for one year and owed the bank $6.5 million, she said.
And a video from Jim today, the banked owned property is listed at $2.7 million. Crazy!