No one bids for Peterson house

Central Valley California house prices are down by 10% and lots of
homes are in foreclosure. Lots of people were investing in real
estate in CV, as they were in Las Vegas.

http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/67329.html
No one bids for Peterson house
Home where Laci is believed slain becomes property of a bank.
By Garth Stapley /
The Modesto Bee
06/23/07 04:33:53

MODESTO -- On steep courthouse steps partially shaded by 100-foot
elms, a public auction crier called for bids Friday on Laci and Scott
Peterson's former home.

No one but the the local newspaper showed up.

So Julie Grimm, a foreclosure auctioneer with Dual Arch International,
closed the bidding, closed her binder and walked away. And Modesto's
most notorious piece of real estate became the property of a Simi
Valley bank.

The lender is owed more than the house is worth, documents suggest.

What a change from July 2005, when Gerry Roberts proudly announced to
the world his triumph in steep competition for the rather humble
cottage-bungalow.

Authorities believe Scott Peterson murdered his pregnant wife there at
Christmastime 2002 and slipped her weighted body into San Francisco
Bay.

The remains of mother and son were recovered along the shore, and
jurors handed up a death sentence in December 2004. Peterson has been
waiting for appeals since his arrival on death row in March 2005.

Four months later, Roberts, a single father and real estate agent, bid
$10,000 more than the asking price of $380,000 and declared he had
just purchased "probably the most controversial home in the world" and
moved in.

Roberts soon found himself out of a job and put the three-bedroom, two-
bath home on the market, asking $479,900.

A few weeks later, Roberts tried hawking the home on eBay with full
reference to the Peterson drama. An unidentified couple working with
another broker later agreed to buy it for nearly $350,000 for their
college-aged daughter and her friends, but backed out 35 days into
escrow.

Countrywide Financial served Roberts a notice of default in October
and set a February foreclosure date, postponed until Friday's public
auction. Roberts filed for bankruptcy protection in February, listing
$340,000 owed to the lender as his largest debt.

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