From today’s U-T (hat tip to Kwaping!):
ENCINITAS – After a high-profile foreclosure, the county’s largest and possibly most luxurious bank-owned home is missing an estimated $1 million worth of furnishings, from antique doors to top-of-the-line toilets.
So far, no suspect has been named in a grand theft investigation opened by the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department in March.
“It’s like a car up on blocks,” Sheriff’s Detective Steven Ashkar said. “It’s been stripped.”
The 16,000-square-foot Spanish hacienda-style house on 1.24 acres is surrounded by trees on Fortuna Ranch Road in Encinitas.
Decorated with 300-year-old doors from Egypt, carved teak pillars from Antigua, stained-glass windows, crystal chandeliers and handmade tiles from Mexico, the home cost $13 million to build and furnish. In February, it failed to sell at a bank foreclosure auction with a starting bid of $2.3 million.
Suzy Brown, an electrical engineer who built the house, reluctantly surrendered title to the bank on Feb. 13 after not making payments for more than a year. She moved out March 22.
On March 26, Capital One Bank’s real estate agent, Katie Taylor, filed a police report citing missing “doors, windows, fixtures, toilets, windows, cabinets and appliances,” Ashkar said.
The house has been controversial since Brown obtained a construction permit in 2004. She originally planned to operate it as a drug-rehabilitation center in a venture with alternative medicine physician Deepak Chopra and 60 unnamed investors.
Neighbors dubbed it the “monster house” because of its size, and complained that Brown intended a commercial venture in a residential area. They sued Brown and filed a complaint with the state Department of Corporations. While both ultimately were dismissed, construction was delayed and the Chopra Center dropped out.
The City Council tightened its zoning rules, preventing Brown from operating a rehab center or renting the home for events once it was finished in 2006.
Brown rented out some of the rooms to as many as 12 people at a time, she said.
As for who stole the furnishings, Brown said she doesn’t know.
She said she tried to secure the property by renting chain-link fencing, installing locks and pleading with the bank to hire a guard.
“The whole thing saddens me, but I’m also very frustrated,” Brown said, “because I’ve never screamed as loud or forewarned as much in person, through voice mail messages, through numerous e-mail messages, how likely a target this property was.”
“As I told the detective, this has been all over the news; what does the bank expect?”
Taylor did not return calls for comment.
Ashkar said he’s interviewed potential witnesses including Brown, her roommates and neighbors.
“I’ve been talking to quite a few people about it, and there’s a lot of speculation,” he said. “The bank owned the property and whoever did this, it’s theft.”
FROM THE PREVIOUS ARTICLE IN FEBRUARY:
Meanwhile, Brown, who designed a sophisticated computer-controlled “brain” that operates the estate’s heating, lighting, air conditioning, audio-visual systems and security, says the home’s value will plummet if she is evicted and takes furnishings with her.
“I’ve shown the property to several prospective buyers, and no one wants it empty,” she says. “It takes the life, breath and soul out of it.”
Despite having lost a fortune on the project, she is trying to keep a positive attitude and remains willing to work with the bank and with new buyers.
Attorneys general in Connecticut and California ordered Ally Financial’s GMAC mortgage unit to freeze all foreclosures within their borders, joining a growing list of states investigating whether the firm and other lenders improperly kicked people out of their homes.
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