Curtis was not able to unmute during the last Zoom. He emailed this message to us and I felt it worth sharing.
This is Curtis McNeil, formerly from 3488 Rubio Crest Dr. Thank you for all that you both are doing for the Rubio Highlands neighborhood.
I did attend the Zoom meeting today while I was at work. Thank you for calling on me to speak, but I was unable to unmute my phone although I tried several different methods of doing so.
The fire was a heartbreaking and traumatic experience for me/us. Not just losing the house, and the widespread devastation throughout Altadena, my precious home/area/neighborhood/city, but all of our family and personal history in terms of mementoes and belongings.
We were fully insured, through USAA, but were not confident to go through the whole rebuilding process, using everything that we have to rebuild, with so many uncertainties surrounding that process, including the ability to obtain insurance on the rebuilt structure.
So-----we decided to sell our land in an effort to move forward with our lives.
3488 Rubio Crest Dr. was listed for sale at 750K with Phase 1 completed and Phase 2 pending. At the time of our listing, we were the highest list price in all of Altadena in terms of burned down properties. I did this intentionally in an effort to establish a comparison value that would benefit others who have also experienced this devastation.
We received 5 offers in 4 days on the market! All of the offers were at, or above, our list price. 4 of the offers were from LLC’s who are developers while one was from a private couple. All of the offers were good. However, one of the offers was exceptional—all contingencies waived at offer acceptance, all cash financing, 10-day escrow, and a sale price of 790K.
We are sad to have lost our precious home and all of our belongings. The family history stuff is irreplaceable and transcends monetary valuation. It is with mixed emotions that we no longer own the property currently. We are doing our best to find our way forward in life. For us, moving forward from the fire meant moving away from it.
I will forever identify with Rubio Highlands and still am active in my former ownership of 3488 Rubio Crest Dr. in terms of my ROE which has been submitted to the county regarding my former ownership of the property at the time of the fire as well as something that I need to do for my buyer (who has already submitted his own ROE regarding his new ownership of the property).
Again, thank you both for what you are doing. I feel really bad about the massive devastation that has occurred in our beautiful town. With your permission, I would like to continue to attend future Zoom meetings in an effort to stay informed about information and developments in that beautiful place.
Sincerely,
Curtis McNeil