42 replies to this topic

[Michael Hughes]

>Wow, tough situation. I assume you've considered selling but feel that it's highly unlikely since they've >gone back to apartments for a lot of the units?

>Have you looked into selling it to someone as an investment property, or perhaps renting it out yourself? >With a $200K mortgage you should be able to come close to break-even.

No chance. My fiancee and I have poor credit and we were "baited and switched" into the loan we are in. We never saw any documentation until after we signed the paperwork with the title company (our first major mistake). It was supposed to be interest only (it isnt). Our payment with taxes/HOA/1st/2nd is over $1800 a month. There is no way we could recoup that. Plus with the mold we would have to disclose and with the developer turning them back into apartments, they will be leased out for far less than we could charge to even get near breaking even.

>If Prometheus starts getting bad press, they won't like it, and would probably want to do whatever it might >take to make it "go away".....

I would hope so, but even when they got bad press in the Sac Bee and a media outlet when they first announced the "repartmenting" they said it was a natural process, and tha everything would turn out fine. They then proceeded to inform residents that the possibility of buying us back is zero. So we have a long court fight ahead. I still am waiting to hear back from Call 3 but I am emailing this other gentleman after I finish this post.

>I wonder why the residents didn't all get together earlier for a class action rather than going on their own >with all trying to do their own separate little lawsuits? Probably wouldn't have had much problem finding
>attorneys to take a class action case on this issue.

The residents here have brought about five or six attorneys in front of the group to determine the best fit and NONE would do a class action. They all stated that they would take us as a "group" but we would all pay our own retainers, lawyer costs, etc. Only one would do a contingency and he has not contacted anyone back after further inquiries. We had a huge problem finding people to take on a class action unfortunately. Also found out that another renter on the other side of the complex is having issues with mold and that her kids are having health problems as well.


UPDATE:
We have added a link where people can donate to our legal defense fund. I just got off the phone with the main lawyer who is representing over 20 owners in our community and he stated that it would be a minimum of $800 retainer + hourly fees.

http://www.powerinfu...m/thecondo.html

Also I heard back from KCRA Call 3 and they said "Good luck with your issue, but we are not the right avenue for that."


- Michael

[FolsomBarb]

Also I heard back from KCRA Call 3 and they said "Good luck with your issue, but we are not the right avenue for that."

This surprises me.

[Michael Hughes]

This surprises me.

It did me as well. They also said (I was not at home and they left a message), "if you need information on where to find a contractor to come and remove the mold, we can refer you to a company or two."

[DrKoz23]

This surprises me.

Maybe this story explains a little bit of their reasoning (even though I don't agree with it). It is a pretty in-depth article about the consumer reporting at both Channel 3 and Channel 13.

http://www.sacticket...-15085978c.html

Let us know if you hear back from Ch 13.

[FolsomBarb]

It appears that the Sac Bee does some "Watchdog" reporting..... here is a link to a page with them listed...

http://www.sacbee.co...s/2006projects/

After looking at several of the Watchdog reports listed, I was able to pull the writer's names and emails from their respective reports.....here are four. Perhaps you could send them your info via email to see if they would be interested in doing a follow-up story with all of your new information about what's going on.


Terri Hardy
thardy@sacbee.com

Dorothy Korber
dkorber@sacbee.com

Christina Jewitt
cjewett@sacbee.com

Todd Milbourn
tmilbourn@sacbee.com


Seems to me it can't hurt to try.....you already have all the information written down....

[Michael Hughes]

Just to give everyone an update . . . Waterford Place will be featured on KCRA Investigative Reports @ 11PM on Wednesday . . . they interviewed some of the residents here for statements. I invite you to watch and learn about what's going on. Although it is good press, [b]I disagree with the broadcast[b]. More information as to why I disagree with the broadcast can be found in my response below.

[dukegirl27]

It seems you cant be happy about anything. And if your not getting some lawyer to work for cheap or free your also not happy. You put yourself in this situation. And for you to say you dont endorse the broadcast who do you think you are to act like your the only one that is having problems there. How do you know that those "angles" arent important to those people that were interviewd? I mean I understand its a horrible situation. However; you should have never bought something you cant afford. I know that myself that my fiance and I could probably finance a place but couldnt pay the outrageous mortgage so we would never put ourselves in a situation until we can completely afford to own our own place.

[Michael Hughes]

It seems you cant be happy about anything. And if your not getting some lawyer to work for cheap or free your also not happy. You put yourself in this situation. And for you to say you dont endorse the broadcast who do you think you are to act like your the only one that is having problems there. How do you know that those "angles" arent important to those people that were interviewd? I mean I understand its a horrible situation. However; you should have never bought something you cant afford. I know that myself that my fiance and I could probably finance a place but couldnt pay the outrageous mortgage so we would never put ourselves in a situation until we can completely afford to own our own place.

Obviously you did not read the whole post or skimmed it. I don't want to make this a flame war but will state facts:

1) At the time we purchased the condo we could afford it. Since we purchased the condominium I was downsized once, took a paycut when finding another job and was forced to resign that position due to how much time I was taking off to care for my fiancee and animals with all their health problems. We did not "buy something we couldn't afford."

2) As for a lawyer working cheap or free, we have currently exhausted our resouces, so the "unhappiness" is because we have talked with several real estate agents and lawyers who have stated that there are real estate agents who will take cases on contingency, yet we are not finding any albiet searching long and hard.

3) And to say I don't endorse the broadcast, you were not here, so you don't know what went on. First off, we are trying to let everyone know about the situation. The reporter in question who came out asked everyone to stop talking to any other news outlets because he would only interview us if it was an exclusive. Second, he made several off-color comments that I found offensive while on the premises. Third, I'm not saying they aren't important to the people interviewed. How about getting a full picture of the situation, though. When you come in telling a group of people that you want to interview everyone and get reactions and then when you show up tell everyone "well I just want to interview those who fall in this category" (which was single mothers and one gentleman who paid cash) it seems a little misleading. I am one of the individuals contacting news outlets regarding this situation and would not have agreed to meet with him had he pressured me on the phone for an "exclusive" like he did when he was here in person.

It is good to have the report coming out, I'm not arguing with that.

I am stating I don't agree with the way in which he interviewed individuals about their respective issues. He interviewed two single mothers, yet left out a family who had more mold in their unit than either of them, and also left out a brother and sister who had purchased together and have mold so bad they had to move out. In front of the condominium of the brother and sister, the mold now starts outside the house on the walkway. When we informed the crew about this so they could take pictures, they only choose to stick with interviewing the individuals mentioned and go with what he called "tear-jerkers". Furthermore among those in the group, the reporter only interviewed people who have either retained or are in the process of working with a lawyer (whose name I will not mention) who happens to be good friends with this reporter. The lawyer was also the one who told the community to contact this reporter to began with. I should have known something was amiss when the reporter was asking people "so are you working with so-and-so." It just seems very suspect. Also those of us who are not working with the lawyer who approximately twenty owners have retained, received a letter yesterday stating that since we have not choosen to have him represent us: effective Monday July 17th (the day the news crew came) any media inquiries will not be handled by him, he will not be representing us in any capacity, and to not mention his name as representing any owners when we discuss with the news crew who the various lawyers are on the project. It just seems veryyyy veryyy suspect.

And try putting yourself in my shoes. Try buying a condo (again one we can afford, which is why we bought the 1BR as opposed to trying to get a 2BR), losing your job, seeing your fiancee's health go down the toilet, your animal's start getting sick (and having some die), having you start getting sick, and then everywhere you try to seek help (lawyers, the insurance company, the developer) you are either met with resistance or such high costs that you can't afford it.

It would dampen anyone's spirits, and frankly Waterford Place is getting bashed a lot right now saying we are a bunch of "whiners" or that its "our own fault". We couldn't have forseen not being disclosed that there was toxic mold (this mold is three years old at least according to city reports). We also couldn't have forseen them turning the rest of the units back into apartments ( in the DRE disclosures it does not state he is allowed to do this ). For the record, we are all trying to get this resolved the best way we can. I'm not the only one who disagrees with how the reporting has gone so far, I simply happen to be the most vocal. I'm very outspoken and I will not change that.

Michael

[MSgt]

Anyone watch this on channel 3 last night on the 11pm broadcast?
Looked pretty bad, and they only covered one issue - the mold.
We live in Natoma Station and I drive by Waterford on my way to work and back. I see the people who live there and really feel bad for them. I guess the renters can move, but those who bought condos are pretty much screwed.

[Michael Hughes]

Anyone watch this on channel 3 last night on the 11pm broadcast?
Looked pretty bad, and they only covered one issue - the mold.
We live in Natoma Station and I drive by Waterford on my way to work and back. I see the people who live there and really feel bad for them. I guess the renters can move, but those who bought condos are pretty much screwed.

We are . . . and I want to say for the record, I am happy with how the interview/ broadcast turned out. Originally, when he was talking with all of us it did not seem that it would come across that well. I will be the first to admit when I am wrong about something, and I was wrong to assume that it would not come out as well as it did.

http://www.kcra.com/...t...202006&ts=H

That is a link to the story.

And I do want to say thank you to all the people who have contacted myself or other owners with their support.

In other news they called the police on one of the owners yesterday for taking pictures of the building and clubhouse to show his realtor (even though we can't sell, still seeing the options). The cycle never ends

[Deb aka Resume Lady]

7) If anyone has any suggestions of agencies to talk to, lawyers who would work on a contingency for a little less or work something out, or just other suggestions in general, please throw them my way.

Hi, Michael,

I wish I had read this thread earlier. Hope I can still be of help.

A) 25 - 30% is not unusual for atty fees.

B) Check your lease agreement and see if there is any language in it that says if you go to court you cannot be compensated for attorney's fees. We were involved in a major lawsuit with our developer (which we won). Unfortunately our purchase agreement specified that should we go to court we could not collect attorney's fees. The jury was not allowed to know this, either. So when they awarded us what should have been enough to fix our problems, a good chunk of that money went to the attorney's office. I have to say they earned their money. The case took a few years to develop and the trial lasted four months. That fee goes to pay the attorney, the attorney's overhead, the attorney's staff who help with the case, letters, phone calls, filing fees, etc. It's not pure profit.

C) It's possible that the reason attorneys would not consider this a class action case is because the extent of the damages vary from unit to unit. This was the case with our lawsuit; various neighbors had differing problems, so the damages varied extensively. However the attorney who took on our case was able to file it as a modified class action -- presented as one case, but with differing amounts of damages.

D) If you have not already contacted Mitch Ostwald (http://www.molaw.com/ ) , who specializes in construction defects, do give him a try. He's very good at what he does. If you call him, tell him Deb Boogaard referred you.

I wish you the best in getting this resolved.

[nlove4ever]

Well I have a story about this one. About 5 years ago my second cousing who is about 51 was living there while her dream house was being built in El Dorado Hills. She started getting sick and so did her daughter. They ended up finding out it was due to toxic mold in the apartment. Unfortunately it had caused some long term damage to her so she filed a lawsuit against them. This mold problem has been a long going issue and I cant believe that the city and the inspectors allowed them to turn this place in to condos. I would encourage anyone that is having this issue to file a lawsuit because they have known about this issue long before (My Cousin is not in contact with KCRA, so you will see more about it). I know there are bad people in the world, but I just cant believe that someone tried to pass this off risking these people's lives just to make money. I feel for them!

[Jaxx]

So, why is this mold issue suddenly becoming a huge problem now that they converted to condos? If the mold was making people so sick, it would seem that the renters would have complained and the issue would have been something that would have had to be taken care of long before the conversion.