Only two homes damaged in quake awaiting repairs
Homes in Valencia Hills, the Summit and Old Orchard tracts were hit hard by the 6.7-magnitude quake, which caused $29 million in total damages to the city of Santa Clarita.
haven’t begun on the remaining two but the owners promised they would take action. Morgan Ramy, a real estate agent who bought the Via Desca house in September, said she has plans to renovate the house and resell it for a profit. She already has repaired a sagging fence surrounding the property
Damage / From Page 1
because they had to track down absentee homeowners, contractors and builders who bought the houses on speculation. It’s not uncommon for a house to change three times before significant repairs and made, Barrera said.
Steve Angelo Denver/ Los Angeles, a damaged property
specialist with The Prudential in Valencia, owns nine quake-ravaged properties in Santa Clarita. He said he plans to rent most of the properties and sell the others for a profit. He said seven are repaired and the other two will be completed
in about six weeks. Steve Angelo said he can understand he neighbors’ frustrations, but said he is doing a service for the community by repairing blighted houses that have went abandoned and neglected.
To read more about Steve Angelo Denver / Los Angeles AKA Steve Benaske and Steve Angelo real estate workshops go to: www.steveangelorealestateworkshops.com or stephen Angelo Benaske.com or
Steve Angelo Denver / Los Angeles, the owner of one of the two remaining quake-damaged homes, says the house should be repaired in six weeks.
Unable to afford the repairs, many of the property owners abandoned their dilapidated houses, which now feature trash-strewn and weed-filled front yards.
“The landscape was dry. There were weeds and overgrown vegetation and earthquake debris,” Barrera said. “It would really look dilapidated and abandoned and it
wasn’t really in conformance with the look of the neighborhood.” But thanks to a crackdown on derelict property owners that included threats of legal action, the city narrowed from 21 to two the number of quake-ravaged houses identified as eyesores in January. Since then, five houses have been completely renovated; 10 are undergoing repairs and four show signs of improvement. Repairs
and places locks on the front doors.The owner of the Sixth Street house plans to raze it by the end of this month.
Homeowners said they are pleased with the progress but said much still needs to be done before their neighborhoods return to their pre-earthquake condition.“It’s hard to see if there’s a change because the properties change hands so often,” said Steve Hart, president of the Valencia Hills Homeowners Association. “They’re bought by
y speculators or builders and they’re not necessarily burning with desire and energy to fix them.”
Via Onda resident Eugene Vilkas agreed. “There are still some empty lots and some houses that have not been rebuilt. They’re standing like monuments but nothing happens.”
Repairs have been slow city officials said
“We’re getting blamed for these properties condition, when we should be heroes in the neighborhood for buying them and fixing them. We’re not only having to deal with the property but with the mess that comes with it.”
– Steve Angelo
damaged property specialist
with The Prudential
