224 Sea Cliff Avenue

As we noted when 224 Sea Cliff Avenue was listed as a “spectacular trophy home with HUGE potential!” for $19.675 million at the end of last year, “while the property appears to remain under the control of Brugnara Properties, numerous liens, notices of default and new deeds of trust have accrued.”

Purchased by the infamous Luke Brugnara for $7 million in 2002, the seven-bedroom home was facing foreclosure back in 2012 with $7,983,898 then owed on a 2007-era first mortgage for $6,000,000, to which a second note for $11,350,000 was added in 2008.

And while the listing remains active on the MLS, a foreclosure auction for 224 Sea Cliff has been slated anew for May 23 on the steps of City Hall.

24 thoughts on “Trophy Home Slated for Foreclosure (Again)”
  1. Wonder if it will actually go this time. Can anyone explain exactly how this would work if you wanted to buy this place on the steps? I remember the house on Pacific and Divis that went into foreclosure, bought by bank and flipped for $10m to CC. What’s owed and who’s likely to buy this one? Clearly the banks have some interest in this place but this place is a handful for anyone.

    1. CC got quite a deal on that one! As I recall, it recently had a $9M makeover. This place is a developer’s dream. Incredible potential and amazing views.

  2. Poaching steelhead trout from your own private dam sounds a lot more cunning (and difficult?) than fleecing a bank. He should stick to the interesting stuff.

  3. Eddy, you need a cashiers check at the courthouse steps. I’ll post the details tomorrow.

    Sale Scheduled: 05/23/2017
    Sale Time: 2:00 PM
    Sale Location: At the Van Ness Avenue entrance to the City Hall at 400 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 9

  4. The bank always wins at foreclosure. It’s called a credit bid. Since they are the lender all they must do is bid the amount owed and anyone else must exceed that amount, with a cashier’s check to prevail. Where it gets tricky is when you have a 1st and a 2nd loan from different lenders and the 2nd lender is foreclosing or the 1st loan is foreclosing which will wipe out the 2nd.

    1. Except sometimes they just want their money back in which case they will bid less than the amount owed. I expect this will be delayed because the house isn’t worth this much and a fire sale price at the steps won’t yield much for the lender unless they want to spend the next year booting the guy out. “Postponed at beneficiary’s request.”

      1. Or sometimes the Loan was sold at steep discount in massive loan pools. Then even with a credit bid the benificary makes money.

    2. The bank doesn’t always win. They would lose hundreds of thousands of dollars with credit bids. This was bad for the banks and taxpayers but good for foreclosure bidders and investors.

  5. Not surprising, since the address numbers are so bad luck (to Cantonese Chinese). Translates to “easy, easy death”…..

  6. But what price +$1.00 is the price owed required to get the home. The second lien seems like its a troubling situation. Hard to believe that anyone, even a bank would drop $11m on this place on the steps. I think if someone with $8mm liquid shows up its theirs.

  7. Eddy

    It depends on the internal bank procedure. If the bank thinks the property is a money pit or huge problem, they will adjust the credit bid price. The bank can start the bidding at $1.00 or $100 or for full amount owed.

    Have you every been down at the courthouse watching the sales?

  8. Agree with Eddy. Very curious how it goes as well. Sorry to over-confirm, but we can see this in action if we show up at 2:00pm at 05/23/2017 at the Van Ness Avenue entrance to the City Hall at 400 Van Ness Avenue, correct?

  9. The owner’s criminal fraud conviction was just affirmed by the court of appeals today.

    Interesting appellate argument. He represented himself at the trial and was such a jackhole that he pissed off everyone, judge, witnesses, and jury. On appeal he argues that “the district judge should have terminated his self-representation when it became clear that he could not control his behavior.” Didn’t work.

    Also, one juror had been replaced when it was learned he had lied about his criminal past, and upon removal he “launched into another diatribe proclaiming that Brugnara was innocent because “[h]e is Italian” and accusing the judge of “represent[ing a] Nazi system.” Lots of drama. But the guy remains in prison.

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