www.examiner.com/a-782304~S_F__condo_rules_snarl_FBI_agent_s_plans.html
News) - When Jennifer Wilson bought her first home, a condominium on Nob Hill, it seemed like a sound entry-level investment. The 39-year-old FBI criminal lawyer paid $473,000 for the grimy one-bedroom apartment, which she spent two years fixing up to the tune of $40,000. But when the upwardly mobile federal employee was offered a promotion and move to Washington, DC, and began looking into selling her apartment, she discovered that the unit was under a strict price control as part of The City's Condominium Conversion Program, and that she couldn't legally get more than $200,000 for the sale. The program governs the conversion of rental apartments to condominiums. In order to maintain The City's affordable housing stock, a certain percentage of each development must be sold below market rate. That so-called restricted housing can only be resold at its restricted rate, prescribed by the Mayor's Office of Housing, not market rate. According to Wilson and her lawyer, Timothy Flaherty, the unit should have been sold for about $180,000 to somebody who qualified for restricted housing.
Giuliani Relies on SC Treasurer's Dad Wilson bought the condo in March of 2004 in a probate sale after the original owner, Lola Jane Anderholm, died. Anderholm's brother, Beuford Hopkins, listed the apartment with Pacific Union real estate company for $499,000, Wilson said. Anderholm had lived in the apartment since the late 1970s and bought it in the 1980s when it was converted into a condominium and dedicated low-income, according to Flaherty. Photographs Wilson took at the time of the sale showed a dingy apartment with damaged paint, plaster, floors and windows, which Wilson repaired while she lived in the unit. The repairs cost $40,000 altogether, Wilson said, but she said she expected to recoup that amount in the sale. According to a lawsuit Wilson filed against the brokers and seller last year -- Leon and Polina De-Levi, Beuford Hopkins and McGuire Real Estate agent Kevin Campbell, who represented Wilson -- they had two opportunities to tell Wilson about the restriction on the apartment, which they failed to do. The restriction, according to the lawsuit, was indicated on the title report ordered by Pacific Union before the sale. The De-Levis and Campbell both reviewed the report, but neither alerted Wilson that the apartment was restricted and she did not qualify to buy it for the reduced price, the lawsuit alleges. "The higher the price, the more money everybody makes," Flaherty said Wednesday. Wilson said Wednesday that she would not be allowed to sell the apartment for much more than about $200,000. She said the last apartment sold in the building went for nearly $800,000. A search Thursday revealed several comparable, one-bedroom Nob Hill apartments listed for the same price. "This could potentially wipe me out financially," Wilson said Wednesday. I'm not even 40 years old and I'm looking at financial ruin." Attorney Alexander Weyand, who represents Pacific Union and the De-Levis declined to comment on the case Wednesday. Dennis Shanaghar, who represents McGuire and Campbell, did not return calls for comment. Neither did Beuford Hopkins, who sold the apartment to Wilson. Conversion law The Old Law: The condominium conversion law, passed in 1980, required a percentage of apartments converted to condominiums in a building to be sold for below market rate. The New Law: A 2002 inclusionary housing ordinance requires all new developments to include low- to moderate-income units. It prevents full condo conversions of large apartment buildings. Jennifer Wilson has very little choice but to sue everyone involved, a process that has already cost her a "dream job" at the FBI. According to Doug Shoemaker, the housing development director for the Mayor's Office of Housing, Wilson is doing the only thing she can in order to recoup her losses. "That's what we encourage people to do," he said Thursday. "Based on what our staff has seen over the last couple of years, we think it happens once or twice a year that someone comes forward with something like this.
Wilson, an FBI agent and lawyer who heads the bureau's legal team in the San Francisco field office, discovered in 2006 that the apartment she bought at market rate in 2004 was restricted under a 20-year-old condo conversion program, meaning she can't sell it for its current market value, or anything above roughly $220,000. Wilson made the discovery after she put in for a promotion in early 2006. She applied for a job she described as a "lateral promotion" to the criminal division at FBI headquarters in Washington, DC "It would have been a very good career move for me," Wilson said. It was honestly the one job I was interested in going back there for." But because of the unfolding financial nightmare surrounding her apartment and subsequent lawsuit against the brokers and seller, Wilson had to turn down the promotion, a move the FBI penalized by preventing her from applying for any other promotions for a year. "I couldn't support this, support litigation and support myself in DC ... It's been the most emotionally difficult, stressful thing I've ever been through, so I couldn't imagine trying to start a new job." Shoemaker said his office is working with Wilson on her next move, but she'll have to vacate the apartment eventually so that it can be sold to someone who qualifies for the controlled rate.
"SF condo rules snarl FBI agents plans" Examiner Reader said: The fact that she is an attorney is moot. The vast majority of people who buy homes are NOT lawyers. That is why we pay agents and title companies tens of thosands of dollars to examine the title. The sale to the attorney violated the "law", however stupid and misguided the "law" of SF is, and the sale should be null and void with the title company and the RE agent holding the bag.
"SF condo rules snarl FBI agents plans" Examiner Reader said: What right does the city have to say what a condo can sell for? whether it be the attorney, the taxpayers, of the people of SF who actually work for a living. All Fed funds should be pulled from this money shredder so it can either crumble into the sea or get its act together.
"SF condo rules snarl FBI agents plans" Examiner Reader said: She should donate the house to the ACLU so they can protect our civil rights and defend the Constitution from people who would seek to turn America into a police state.
it is because our fbi lawyers cannot even review a simple title document..... I think it is shameful that an FBI agent entrusted with conducting complex criminal investigations on behalf of the United States would fall for a common real estate scam.
"SF condo rules snarl FBI agents plans" Examiner Reader said: I'll put a slightly different spin on this story than the other posts (the Dr. Phil re-mix) Trying to climb the career ladder, living in big expensive cities and flipping real estate isn't all there is in life. I too dislike losing money and can completely sympathize. However, thoughts of accumulating money and attaining success can completely consume some people. If she's working lots of hours as an FBI Agent while trying to fix up a house, she's probably been burning the candle at both ends. People who do that should question if they're doing it for the right reasons.
"SF condo rules snarl FBI agents plans" noni said: The law is another socialist-type scheme to get middle-class buyers to subsidize other middle-class buyers. The below market rate set asides raise the price of homes for all and discourage the creation of new homes by developers. thinks people who work and save to buy a place should have to pay a penance for for their "sin" of being successful.
"SF condo rules snarl FBI agents plans" Examiner Reader said: it is amazing how many people missed this: the selling estate, the estates attorney, the probate court, the title company, the buyer who is an attorney, the buyer broker and the buyers lender. Also, the HOA of the condominum where property is located. If this is a purchase money mortgage, her liability to the lender is the value of the property, 200K. she has incured a loss but not as big as i...
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