Black couple settle lawsuit as home value at $500k below real price

[Sadie]

So, when you're seen by the teller at the bank, they don't start off with " you agree not to rob us, right Ms. Sadie"? I don't know about you but I would find that insulting.

Of course its insulting, I think the everything about the settlement is insulting to Appraiser Miller.

 

[Sadie]

I wonder if Miller's legal team thought of that....
I also wonder if Miller's legal team received a copy of appraisal #2....

I would bet they did.

 

[Fernando]

I would bet they did.

I can't imagine how high Miller's attorney fees be to educate the attorney about appraisals and how difficult this assignment was.

 

[RCA]

As has been mentioned in multiple prior posts regarding this lawsuit, this home has an unusual construction method. Specifically, there is a collection of homes in Marin City, maybe 50-60, on hillside lots that are built on stilts resembling telephone poles. My recollection is that the poles were placed into the ground without concrete. The original buildings are long and narrow, maybe 24’ x 50’ with tandem parking below. My father was an appraiser when these were built and said more than once that the subdivision was a collection of hillside scrap lots developed by a cheap builder (which explains the use of poles in place of a conventional concrete perimeter or slab foundation).

A quick history from memory: Marin City was one of the last areas in the region to be developed. I would attribute this to it having sub par physical attributes. It’s at the shallow end of a bay inlet that is not navigable (by contrast, virtually all of Sausalito bay frontage is). The area was initially developed in WWII with housing to support the thousands of workers building support ships in north Sausalito for the war. The area was effectively abandoned after the war with some apartments built in the early 1960s and the the “pole” homes circa 1970. A large PUD development isolated to the north was built around 1980, and another in the 1990s along with a strip mall.

The views are mostly of the surrounding hills with only slot views of the bay a half mile or more away. The views would be a 2 on a 10 scale for Sausalito (10 being the best). The area abuts a 6 lane freeway and the views are over the freeway ( ie the freeway is below Marin City). By contrast, the freeway is above and behind the views in Sausalito. Marin City has little commercial that is beneficial to locals or cutesy; a 90s strip mall with a few chain restaurants, a Best Buy (shuttered), a West Marine, and a grocery store (these are from memory). By contrast, Sausalito is a world class tourist destination with high end one-off shops and high end dining, and with most housing built 1880-1960.

In short, attempting to compare a home in Marin City to Sausalito would be an act of frustration. Far easier to use older comparable sales in Marin City and spend time developing an adjustment for date of sale.
This is just a quick overview based purely from memory.

Yes, I would agree with you 100%. I like the Marin City area - in fact because it is not so crowded like Sausalito. Yet, the feeling you get in Marin City is that you are in the shadow of the other areas, and it is a tad depressing because of the features you mention. It is also probably indeed the inhabitants. In Sausalito you are more likely going to have neighbors who are Architects, engineers, CEO's, managers, rich and so on. There is a lifestyle with the harbor and associated restaurants and stores.

You can take the past sales - going back 5-10 years and adjust them for market conditions based on trends in surrounding areas. But honestly, I don't think that will really get you anywhere. $1.5M? If I had the much money to spend on a home in the area - I would buy a better and larger home in Sausalito:

301 South Street, Sausalito, $1,440,000, sold 3/6/2020

95 Monte Mar, Sausalito, $1,515,000, sold 3/20/2020

---> Which leads me to conclude an incompetent defense, incapable of logical thinking.

 

[George Hatch]

The respondent and her attys have never had the opportunity to publicly respond to the allegations. And now they never will have that opportunity.

 

[Carnivore]

 

[Fernando]

The respondent and her attys have never had the opportunity to publicly respond to the allegations. And now they never will have that opportunity.

Maybe her attorneys wanted to keep it low key and not publicize it more to get the settlement less acrimonious.

 

[George Hatch]

Maybe her attorneys wanted to keep it low key and not publicize it more to get the settlement less acrimonious.

aka, not add to the damages in the event of a loss at trial. Any lawyer would do that same.

 

[Surf Cat]

If I recall correctly, several people from here read the lawyer statements for Miller saying that they were sharp as a tack and Bulldogs.

It appears they folded like a deck of cards....

 

[Zoe]

I am literally clueless on how many similar and competing properties were in the immediate area of subject.

There had to be something else in the report that lit the fire.