By Tony D’Souza
While stories of foreclosure and fire sales at auction can no longer be considered ‘breaking news’ – or possibly even newsworthy – given the state of the national housing market and economy, one such recent event in Dunsmuir merits mention for the dramatic way it illustrates the extremes in pricing that occurred during the ‘housing bubble,’ and now the bubble’s aftermath.
From a high sale price of nearly $500,000 in late 2005, the property at 5957 Sacramento Avenue in Dunsmuir sold two weeks ago at auction for only $86,000.
The 1923 property, affectionately known as ‘The Mortuary,’ is a large structure just south of the Eagles’ Hall, across from the Butterfly Avenue bridge. The four floors of the building total 7,595 square feet, and while by press time no one was located who could detail its exact history, according to numerous sources the building has served as a funeral parlor, furniture store, single family residence, and apartments in its 85 year history.
It’s not often that a reporter gets to enter a story; for purposes of disclosure it’s important to note that not only did I live in The Mortuary from 2003 to 2005, but in late 2004 I made an offer to buy it. I lived in the only finished apartment on the second floor. Another tenant occupied the third floor, which we called ‘the attic,’ and The Kid’s Factory was in the basement. What I loved about The Mortuary were the hard wood floors, the size of the rooms, the amount of light pouring in through the banks of windows, the central fireplace, and the building’s history. Its previous incarnation as Young’s Furniture and Funeral had left it with its ‘Mortuary’ monicker; at least once a week a passerby would ask me if there were ghosts (there were not).
I was a teacher at Shasta College then; the owner at the time listed The Mortuary for sale at $389,000. I did the math – including the price of gas for my daily commute to Redding – and offered $300,000. He came down to $320,000, but we came no closer. Then gas prices rose dramatically and I felt relieved that I hadn’t gotten the building. I, like many at the time, had been stretching my math anyway trying to afford on paper what my salary could not.
I loved The Mortuary and have kept an eye on it over the years.
When I lived in it, The Mortuary was the dark brown color of its shingles with cream trim outlining its many windows so that it looked like an old house in the Black Forest. It had a carefully tended yard with a stream flowing through it, and there wasn’t a single broken window on any of its floors. Today, the building suffers from an incompleted exterior paint job, many of the windows are broken, the doors often swing open to the elements, the yard is overgrown, and the building is uninhabited with the utilities shut off.
According to public records, on January 14, 2005, my landlord sold The Mortuary for $300,000. Nine months later – coinciding with the rising real estate market – on September 30, 2005 it was sold again for $490,000, a gain in price of nearly $200,00. The real estate bubble soon burst, and The Mortuary eventually went into foreclosure. Two weeks ago, American Home Mortgage of Irving Texas, the holder of the mortgage, put the property up for auction through Williams & Williams auctioneers.
Williams & Williams spent three weeks advertising the auction of The Mortuary, and on Thursday October 30, the day before Halloween, approximately 20 people gathered in front of the building. After a brief four to five minute ‘bidding-war’ the building sold for $86,000.
According to sources, that ‘fire-sale’ deal has subsequently fallen through, with American Home Mortgage cancelling it because “the price was too low.” The Mortuary will be listed again with a real estate agency.
Despite the low auction price, sources close to the county say that The Mortuary’s assessed value won’t immediately change from its current $494,700 value. “If your uncle sold you a home for $1, that doesn’t mean the assessed tax value would be $1,” one source explained.
For now The Mortuary stands as something akin to a ‘sign of our times.’ Because it lies just south of the Downtown Historic District, it is not covered by any of the Historic District preservation laws.
One unsubstantiated but persistent rumor is that The Mortuary was designed by a female architect from San Francisco. Many local residents remember when the building housed antiques, including an ornate horse-drawn carriage. As late as 2005, the mortician’s metal worktable, including drain, was still in a back room of the basement.
|
|
|
By Tony D’Souza
While stories of foreclosure and fire sales at auction can no longer be considered ‘breaking news’ – or possibly even newsworthy – given the state of the national housing market and economy, one such recent event in Dunsmuir merits mention for the dramatic way it illustrates the extremes in pricing that occurred during the ‘housing bubble,’ and now the bubble’s aftermath.
From a high sale price of nearly $500,000 in late 2005, the property at 5957 Sacramento Avenue in Dunsmuir sold two weeks ago at auction for only $86,000.
The 1923 property, affectionately known as ‘The Mortuary,’ is a large structure just south of the Eagles’ Hall, across from the Butterfly Avenue bridge. The four floors of the building total 7,595 square feet, and while by press time no one was located who could detail its exact history, according to numerous sources the building has served as a funeral parlor, furniture store, single family residence, and apartments in its 85 year history.
It’s not often that a reporter gets to enter a story; for purposes of disclosure it’s important to note that not only did I live in The Mortuary from 2003 to 2005, but in late 2004 I made an offer to buy it. I lived in the only finished apartment on the second floor. Another tenant occupied the third floor, which we called ‘the attic,’ and The Kid’s Factory was in the basement. What I loved about The Mortuary were the hard wood floors, the size of the rooms, the amount of light pouring in through the banks of windows, the central fireplace, and the building’s history. Its previous incarnation as Young’s Furniture and Funeral had left it with its ‘Mortuary’ monicker; at least once a week a passerby would ask me if there were ghosts (there were not).
I was a teacher at Shasta College then; the owner at the time listed The Mortuary for sale at $389,000. I did the math – including the price of gas for my daily commute to Redding – and offered $300,000. He came down to $320,000, but we came no closer. Then gas prices rose dramatically and I felt relieved that I hadn’t gotten the building. I, like many at the time, had been stretching my math anyway trying to afford on paper what my salary could not.
I loved The Mortuary and have kept an eye on it over the years.
When I lived in it, The Mortuary was the dark brown color of its shingles with cream trim outlining its many windows so that it looked like an old house in the Black Forest. It had a carefully tended yard with a stream flowing through it, and there wasn’t a single broken window on any of its floors. Today, the building suffers from an incompleted exterior paint job, many of the windows are broken, the doors often swing open to the elements, the yard is overgrown, and the building is uninhabited with the utilities shut off.
According to public records, on January 14, 2005, my landlord sold The Mortuary for $300,000. Nine months later – coinciding with the rising real estate market – on September 30, 2005 it was sold again for $490,000, a gain in price of nearly $200,00. The real estate bubble soon burst, and The Mortuary eventually went into foreclosure. Two weeks ago, American Home Mortgage of Irving Texas, the holder of the mortgage, put the property up for auction through Williams & Williams auctioneers.
Williams & Williams spent three weeks advertising the auction of The Mortuary, and on Thursday October 30, the day before Halloween, approximately 20 people gathered in front of the building. After a brief four to five minute ‘bidding-war’ the building sold for $86,000.
According to sources, that ‘fire-sale’ deal has subsequently fallen through, with American Home Mortgage cancelling it because “the price was too low.” The Mortuary will be listed again with a real estate agency.
Despite the low auction price, sources close to the county say that The Mortuary’s assessed value won’t immediately change from its current $494,700 value. “If your uncle sold you a home for $1, that doesn’t mean the assessed tax value would be $1,” one source explained.
For now The Mortuary stands as something akin to a ‘sign of our times.’ Because it lies just south of the Downtown Historic District, it is not covered by any of the Historic District preservation laws.
One unsubstantiated but persistent rumor is that The Mortuary was designed by a female architect from San Francisco. Many local residents remember when the building housed antiques, including an ornate horse-drawn carriage. As late as 2005, the mortician’s metal worktable, including drain, was still in a back room of the basement.
