Fate of Peterson home in limbo
Cause of Laci's death key to when, how Modesto house could be sold.
Fate of Peterson home in limbo
Cause of Laci's death key to when, how Modesto house could be sold.
By Jack Doo
The Modesto Bee
(Published Sunday, April 27, 2003, 4:56 AM)
MODESTO -- It was the home in which they planned to raise a family. Now the front lawn is a shrine where people by the thousands have come to mourn the woman who lived there. It is Scott and Laci Peterson's house at 523 Covena Ave. in Modesto. The house is not for sale, but the real estate questions are flying:
Is Scott Peterson allowed to sell it? What is it worth, and what could it sell for? Will anyone be interested, considering that one of the residents is dead and her husband has been accused of killing her and their unborn child? What would real estate agents be required to tell prospective buyers?
Patrick Wallace, a longtime Modesto real estate agent, lived in the same neighborhood for nearly 20 years. Yes, the house would sell, he said.
"It's all based on price," he said. "I would say you'd have to discount it 20% or more."
He added that the house probably could sell in short order.
Randall Bell, a nationally known appraiser who specializes in properties where crimes have occurred, said it might take longer.
"In that kind of situation, it's very tough to sell the house," said Bell, a partner at Bell, Anderson & Anderson in Laguna Beach. "One might not be successful in selling the house."
Bell appraised the Los Angeles condominium owned by O.J. Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, who was slain outside the home along with friend Ron Goldman. And Bell appraised the Colorado home where 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey was killed. In both cases, the slayings cut into the appraised values.
"If the crime was committed inside the house, it tends to stigmatize the house more than if it was committed outside," he said.
California's disclosure law, Wallace said, covers a three-year period after a death on a property. During that period, prospective buyers must be told about any such death.
In the Peterson case, Wallace said: "Technically, you wouldn't have to disclose anything. Nothing has been proved. They didn't find her in the house. You can only disclose what you know."
The Petersons bought the three-bedroom, two-bath house in October 2000 for $177,000, according to the Stanislaus County Recorder's Office. Records indicate that the couple refinanced the house in February 2002.
Wallace said the home is in an excellent location, in the La Loma neighborhood.
The Petersons' home was built in 1949. Wallace said he has been inside, and he called it very desirable: "It's an attractive house. The previous owner had gone through it. The kitchen had been updated. The garage had been converted into a family room, which is pretty common in that neighborhood."
In Modesto's appreciating real estate market, the home's value has gone up about $100,000 in less than three years, according to Wallace.
"Without the stigma, probably $275,000, plus or minus $5,000," Wallace said about the listing price for the house.