- NEWS
- SPORTS
- BUSINESS
- ENTERTAINMENT
- LIFE
- TRAVEL
- OPINION
See $1M house ex-Surf City ‘big cheese’ wants to unload
August 29th, 2009, 3:00 am · 9 Comments · posted by Marilyn Kalfus, real estate reporter
This is the Boardwalk home at the center of a battle between former City Manager Penelope Culbreth-Graft and the Huntington Beach City Employees Credit Union. As our government Watchdog reporter Teri Sforza reported , Culbreth-Graft and her husband were sued by the city’s credit union for failure to pay on a $250,000 loan.
As Sforza wrote in her post, Former big cheese in Huntington Beach owes city credit union (and tax collector) money, Culbreth-Graft left Surf City in 2006 to become city manager in Colorado Springs, but she and her husband William still own the home on Beachview Drive on which the revolving credit line was based. They also owe about $8,000 in delinquent property taxes, the county Tax Collector’s web site shows.
So here’s more of the real estate angle:
The couple is trying to unload the home as a short sale, asking $1,199,000.
The 2-story Cape Cod-style house at 6571 Beachview Drive is 2,456 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, with a view of the ocean (and also a view of the oil yards.)
The house is in the Boardwalk, a 24-hour guard-gated community a stroll from Pacific Coast Highway and Goldenwest Street. It’s one of the newer, immaculate-looking communities where some of the 188 homes beyond the guard gate have their own sets of gates.
Apparently, the highest closed sale in the Boardwalk was for $2,950,000, 3 years ago.
“Become a member of one of the most prestigious communities in HB,” the listing says. HOA dues are $249 a month.
As Sforza noted, The Colorado Springs Independent wrote last month of Culbreth-Graft, “She and her husband have been unable to sell their previous home in Huntington Beach, Calif., and they can’t continue with two mortgages much longer.”
This is the market history of the Boardwalk house, according to Redfin:
Culbreth-Graft
Jul 16, 2009 Price Changed $1,199,000
Jan 13, 2009 Listed $1,299,000
Nov 13, 2008 Delisted
Nov 13, 2008 Relisted
Nov 11, 2008 Delisted
Oct 15, 2008 Listed
Sep 15, 2007 Delisted
Mar 15, 2007 Listed
Feb 01, 2007 Delisted
Oct 09, 2006 Listed
Sep 24, 2004 Sold $1,259,000
Aug 29, 2002 Sold $742,500
Realtors say ‘delisted’ doesn’t necessarily mean it was taken off the market; that can represent some type of change — like the price.
The online hometracker shows nearby similar listings at $849,900 - $1,299,999 and recent sales at $560,000 - $1,150,000.
Redfin has its customary warning on the listing for short sales:
“This home is flagged as a short sale. We’re sorry, we don’t tour or write offers on short sales because of the slim chance that you’ll get the home.” Some Realtors say lenders seem to be getting less sluggish in approving short sales lately.
What do you think the sale price will be?
.
Latest on homes on the market:
Latest on short sales:
9 Comments
-
ADVERTISEMENT
-
Surf City home "mood ring"
For the 22 business days ending Oct. 16 -- DataQuick's freshest stats -- we tap into Surf City's homebuying mood with how local ZIPs fare vs. a year ago! ZIPs with GAINING median prices and sales are
GREEN while MIXED trends are 
YELLOW and FALLING prices and sales are 
RED! ZIP Price Ch. Sold Ch. 92646 $477,000 -14% 59 +40% 92647 $530,000 -3% 32 +10% 92648 $693,500 -6% 46 -4% 92649 $668,500 +14% 31 +7% - Overall O.C. home trends are HERE!
-
-
-
-
-
-
ADVERTISEMENT
Typical HB politician!!!
Really Stu? Politicians are the only ones who end up in a position with the inability to pay the note on their home? Maybe she intended to purchase the property just so that she could end up in the papers as someone who wouldn’t repay the loan! Dude, come on. Look around. There are more foreclosures and short sales than at any point in the history of our county. She’s not immune. She found a new job, tried unsuccessfully to sell her home and is now forced to sell it below the amount of loans on the property or send the keys back to the bank. Sucks, but that’s how it is right now. It has nothing to do with politics or positions - I’m kind of surprised in the way that the OCR spun this one… shoot, YOU fell for it.
At lest you don’t have to feel sorry for them. They didn’t lose any money on the deal. They bought the house in 9/2004 for $1,259,000 with 10% down payment. They then refinanced in 10/2005 through San Diego County CU and then added the $250,000 HB Emp CU in July 2006.
So if you total up their loans of $1,391,000, and subtract out their original loans of $1,133,100 it means they made $257,900 on their original $125,900 down payment. This works out to about a 200% gain in less than 2 years.
Sweet deal for them! Especially if they used that free money to buy a house in Colorado Springs.
Sour deal for city and county workers in Huntington Beach and San Diego County.
Great post and analysis by SW. Wish the OCR reporters provided this type of analysis and reporting.
No sympathy for Culbreth-Graft. She chose to purchase the home, she chose to borrow perceived appreciation, she chose to move to Colorado Springs.
As a city manager, we should have higher expectations. If she’s so irresponsible with her personal loans how can she be responsible with a cities finances.
The good news is that she’s no longer with HB, but I would hope the citizens of Colorado Springs fire her for lack of integrity if she backs out of her current loan.
I commend the banks that go after very successful individuals that expect others to pay for their mistakes.
What’s the big deal? Bankruptcies, drunk driving (McGrath); felony and misd convictions for ex-mayors ( Garofalo, Houchen….AND?????)………..and now this little loan default by a former city manager is making headlines?
Must be a slow news day.
No wonder HB is run the way it is. A former City Manager stiffing the credit union (and the County). A current City attorney bankrupt (who also stiffed the Credit union) with a checkered past including a DUI. The residents need to demand more professionalism from their City officials.
And ask people who worked for Penny…she was a terror if you were on her bad side. That type of “fiefdom” creating person is the type not to pay her bills because paying her bills is beneath her.
15%
What I have to wonder about is, why do potential employers run credit checks and deny employment to peons looking for $10/hr jobs, and yet this person can go from one “city manager” to another, obviously with bad credit and it’s no problem.
Did Colorado Springs run her credit?
I think credit history is a very poor means in which to make an employment decision, especially in this economy…..but what’s good for the goose, etc.
Unfortunately for Ms. Graft, she did not have the ability to have the City pay for her personal liberal spending. All she did when she was the City Manager in HB is double the size of the City’s General Fund budget in three-plus years and give the employee unions the biggest pay increases in the history of the City. Now the City, like her, is having to make drastic cuts in City services while the employee unions continue to get pay increases when the CPI is zero.