"Trying to do the American Dream thing..."

[Michael Thomas]

(05-06) 17:43 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A Victorian cottage on Mangels Street in San Francisco's Sunnyside neighborhood twisted and collapsed this afternoon, damaging a house next door and slumping backward several feet down a steep hill into a mini park.

Police got a call at 2:47 p.m. alerting them to the collapse of the light blue clapboard home at 149 Mangels Street, which neighbors said a young couple bought last year in a probate proceeding...


"Unbelievable," said Charles Sterling, 46, a neighbor. "They're just a wonderful young couple trying to do the American Dream thing and may have gotten in over their heads."

Neighbors said the new owners, who have not been identified, planned to turn a work area under the house into an in-law unit where the husband's parents would live.


"He was doing the whole thing himself," said Lisa Katzman, whose house next door was damaged. "We thought they were going to rip it down, but it turns out they planned to fix it up."

The husband was working on the house when he heard it creaking and ran out, neighbors said. No one was injured in the collapse, and firefighters managed to get back into the house and rescue the couple's dog, authorities said...


Home collapses in the Sunnyside neighborhood in S.F. (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/06/BAG19PMALI7.DTL)

[Michael Thomas]

Well, at least the seller disclosed:

Curbed SF: Cheap! (http://sf.curbed.com/archives/2006/11/14/cheap.php)

It really came down, too:

SF Gate: Multimedia (image) (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2007/05/07/BAGF3PMD2L1.DTL&o=2)

[Jim Luttrall]

I wonder if they got an inspection?:eek:

[Richard Moore]

Major Fixer Upper needs everything. Buyers and agents beware of unstable building, floors, dry-rot and foundations. Enter at your own risk.


Wow! Thats the most honest MLS description I've seen since the one I was asked to inspect a few years back. That listing started with "Major disaster on the lake!". Large, foreclosed, owner built home that evidently lacked any flashings and was totally rotted. I turned it down.

[Kevin VanderWarf]

Ok, one column says the guy was putting in a basement, another says he was putting in a new foundation wall.
I like to hear more on what brought the place down. I'm thinking he knocked supports out for the basement, just before she went down.

[Jerry Peck]

Husband: Honey, if we make this into an apartment for my father and mother, this here post will be right smack in the center of the room ... is it okay with you if I move this post over to the corner out of the way?

Wife, yelling down from upstairs: Sure, Honey, any thing you want to do down there is okay with me.

[Michael Thomas]

A few years back, down the block from me, a DIY flipper doing an unpermitted rehab decided to loft a second floor by removing the rafter ties.

The entire house pancaked, with what was left leaning on its neighbor to the west.

The flipper got off easy.... no insurance, but the laborer he had sent up to the attic with the reciprocating saw lived, with only minor injuries.

Found a brief description on-line, but no picture:

"Upon arrival, firefighters found the worker trapped on top of a pile of debris, about 12 feet up on the collapsed house."

2 hurt in roof collapse - Evanston Review [01-17-02] (http://archives.pioneerlocal.com/cgi-bin/ppo-story/archives/localnews/2002/ev/01-17-02-7054.html)