BIG--1234 Hawthorne Street, Alameda, CA 94501

By L. Opine on April 12, 2008 2:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the process of writing about another large Gold Coast property, I did some digging on 1234 Hawthorne Street, a beautiful, enormous 8,020-sqft mansion that's been on and off the market for a little while (MLS #40321930).

This house was on the market in 2007 for $2,250,000 with listing id 40251111 (which may or may not be the MLS id):

It actually started at $2,400,000, but the only trace I found was in Google's cache of a postlet listed on Propsmart:

It's now (April 2008) down to $1,900,000 and not really moving all that much as far as I can tell.

What's troubling is the murky legal wrangle that may or may not be associated with the current owners. Please note: This is NOT VERIFIED INFORMATION, ONLY A LIST OF DATA PUBLICLY AVAILABLE ON PUBLIC WEB SITES. THE AUTHOR OF THIS POST IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR FACTUAL ERRORS AND WILL POST ANY AND ALL CREDIBLE CORRECTIONS PROVIDED TO HIM IN A TIMELY MANNER.

Now that's out of the way, let's see what we find.

First, Googling "1234 Hawthorne" brings up a donation to the democratic national committee by one "Jack Easterbay" on the Huffington Post:

Googling "Jack Easterbay" brings up a helpful correction by Google:

Why, I suppose I did. So what do we get?

Again, I have no proof that the 'Jack Easterday, owner of Homewood Care Center [...] of Alameda [...] vilified as living "like Louis XIV"' is the same as "Jack Easterbay" listed on the Huffington post as living at 1234 Hawthorne. Maybe there's a completely honest Democrat named Jack Easterbay who works in health care at Westland Med and lives in a huge mansion in Alameda, and a Jack Easterday who was convicted of fraud in relation to healthcare and lives "like Louis XIV" in Alameda. But the convict's story isn't pretty:

[source] Jack Easterday of Alameda, who had been vilified as living "like Louis XIV" during a U.S. Senate hearing last year on tax cheats, could face up to five years in federal prison. He was convicted Wednesday by a federal jury.
The conviction was announced the same day state health officials fined Homewood Care Center, a San Jose nursing home, $100,000 — the highest fine allowed under state law — for substandard care that led to the October death of a 67-year-old man. Easterday,52, is president of Homewood Care Center's parent company, Westline Medical Management.
The conviction, coupled with the fine for the resident's death, raised concerns about the future of Easterday's eight nursing homes in California, which include Oakland Care Center on Webster Street in Oakland, Alameda Care Center on Willow Street in Alameda and Eden West Convalescent Hospital on West Street in Hayward.

[source] On July 13, 2007, in San Francisco, CA, Jack Easterday was sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay $8,710,795 in restitution and a special assessment of $10,700 for his willful failure to pay employment taxes owed to the government. On March 7, 2007, Easterday was convicted by a federal jury on 107 counts of failing to pay $9.6 million in payroll taxes. [...] Coleman said Easterday used the payroll taxes he collected "for personal gain." "He paid himself and his wife an average annual salary of more than $338,000 between 1998 and 2004," Coleman said. "He purchased a 10,000-square-foot home for $750,000 in 1997. He purchased a dining table and chairs that seated 22 people along with a 24-place setting of Limoges china. He purchased a Rolex watch for $16,340. He owned a sailboat and jet skis. He was living like Louis XIV, compliments of the American taxpayer."

[source] On February 9, 2006, Jack Easterday of Alameda, California, was found guilty in federal court in Oakland, of 47 counts of failing to account for and pay payroll taxes. Easterday was the owner of several San Francisco Bay area nursing homes. He was convicted of failing to pay more than $3 million in employee taxes to the IRS which he withheld from employee checks from 1998 to 2002 while serving as president of Employee Equity Administration Inc. of Alameda. The company operated nine California nursing homes, and software firm Skilled Logic Systems Inc. Easterday allegedly thwarted IRS efforts to collect the taxes by claiming to have no assests while paying himself and his wife exorbitant salaries and directors' fees.

(there's more and more; evidently there's a Jack Easterday in Alameda that's a kick-ass tennis player as well.)

People named Jack Easterday in Alameda do seem to have a fondness for health care and bad luck with the tax authorities: minutes from a 2002 city council meeting (pdf) show this interesting tidbit:

Jack Easterday, Alameda, stated a rental tax for Alameda Care Center shows up on the delinquent Property Tax Bill; however, said matter was settled 12-14 years ago

Note that the only transaction for 1234 Hawthorne I found on Zillow is a sale for $595,000 in 1986, and the house is (only!) 8,020 square feet, so that's probably not the "10,000-square-foot home [purchased] for $750,000 in 1997" mentioned in the second excerpt, even allowing for poetic license. But the old listing sure did show a big ol' dining table:

I'll be looking at the listing with increased interest now. Comments and corrections welcome.

Update: I decided to be cheeky and talk to the real estate agent representing the property, John Selbach. John is a very pleasant man and he had the following facts to share (paraphrased from notes taken during a phone conversation):

There are IRS liens on the property
The IRS hasn't taken it because it can't take a person's primary residence
The sellers want to sell and move out of town
The agent expects one or two offers next week
The seller smart business man who wants to sell
The kitchen is old (1980s) and big, so it'll be an expensive remodel; the owners didn't use it much and worked late, ate out or ordered Chinese take-out
The home has a brick foundation, but the pest and home inspectors agree 100% the foundation is as good as new,
and is the best brick foundation you'll ever see in your life
The pest report is about $15,000
Because of the lien, the IRS isn't going to let the seller give it away

But why is it every time I talk to an agent about a slow-moving and/or overpriced listing, they're always expecting one or two offers the next week? I got the same line from the agent for 1420 Fountain Street, where the sellers were holding ONE showing during the week and were expecting to review offers a few days later. 78 days later the house hasn't budged (and neither has its price).

Update 4/21/2008: This property appears to be pending, and is off the MLS as far as I can tell.

Update 5/12/2008: The property is back on the market, at $1.9M

Update 10/4/2008: Here's a of picture of the front door I took a little while back.

BIG--1234 Hawthorne Street, Alameda, CA 94501

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