-
8/3-14
| Thomasena visits San Jose to look for house. First looks with Alain Pinel agent in Saratoga,
then Douglas Rea of Coldwell Banker in Los Gatos/Monte Sereno. Douglas shows the Blanchard house to Thomasena, then
later takes both Ralph and Thomasena to see it (Lou Rae Kagel is there during this and most of the visits). They go
back several times (total of 5-6 times before making offer), once Lynn O'Brien is there alone and another time when
Lynn and Lou Rae are both there. |
-
8/12
| Ralph officially starts new job in San Jose, transferring from London. |
-
8/13
| 1st offer on Saratoga house at $3.1M, asking price of $4.475M. |
-
8/14
| Saratoga offer verbally rejected from seller, Ralph asks for written response. |
-
8/14
| Counter offer from seller at $3.875M. |
-
8/15
| 1st offer on Blanchard house at $3.0M, asking price of $3.9M. |
-
8/15-22
| Ralph goes to London returns with Ryan Simpson who starts school days later. |
-
8/16
| Offer on Blanchard declined. |
-
8/17-22
| 2nd offer on Saratoga house at $3.3M. Seller counter at $3.6M, then 2nd buyer makes
offer. Ralph elects to drop out of negotiations. |
-
8/23
| 2nd offer made on Blanchard house at $3.25M. |
-
8/25
| Final acceptance of contract terms for Blanchard home at $3.25M. |
-
8/26
| Ralph takes pictures of the house. It was probably this day (or could have been between 8/26 and 9/1)
that Ralph notices the pool house did not have AC and discussed this with Lou Rae. |
-
9/2
| Walk-through conducted with Ralph and Douglas. |
-
9/4
| Douglas sent letter to Lou Rae, requesting repairs and questions, such as AC in pool house. |
-
9/4-5?
| Lou Rae hand-writes the response to Douglas’ letter. She responds to the question about AC in the guest
house with, “We can turn this on I know the air con works.” |
-
9/7
| Termite inspection and walk-through by Douglas and Brian Oram (construction foreman) – Ralph did not
attend. |
-
9/9
| All contingencies removed from contract. |
-
9/9
| Lou Rae sends letter to Douglas saying that the guest house does not have AC and will cost Ralph $1200 if he
would like to have it. Initial request was for half the normal price of $5000. |
-
9/9-11
| Ralph goes to Hawaii for business meeting, returns on a red-eye the morning of 9/11. |
-
9/10
| Douglas responds to Lou Rae’s letter, saying that AC is in the marketing materials and “This is
misrepresentation.. Had it not been discovered until after close of escrow, we would be facing a lawsuit.” |
-
9/9-19?
| Stamped and colored asphalt in front of house covered over with blacktop. This occurs after all
contingencies were removed from the contract. Ralph complains to Douglas about this, since it was known to be
required but not disclosed. |
-
9/12
| Thomasena had airline tickets to return to San Jose, but the flight was cancelled due to 9/11. |
-
9/17
| Douglas calls Ralph and sends email asking for $1.25M assignment to sellers. Ralph refused. |
-
9/19
| Original scheduled closing date, had to be rescheduled due to 9/11 terrorist attack. Ralph sends
email to Douglas explaining the reason for the delay in closing. The lender also sends a similar letter. |
-
9/21
| Thomasena arrives in San Jose. |
-
9/26
| Lou Rae sends letter to Douglas, threatening that the sellers will put the house back on the market
and seek damages if Ralph does not go through with the purchase of the house. |
-
9/27
| Ralph and Thomasena met with Douglas and Lou Rae at pool house to check AC, which was finally demonstrated
after several hours and only 12 hours before scheduled closing. |
-
9/28
| Closing date. Money was deposited and closing was complete by 10am but Lynn would not allow us to enter
home until after 5pm. At noon, movers left pallet of household goods in garage. |
-
9/29
| Douglas sent a locksmith to break into the pool house and change the locks on all doors. |
-
9/30-10/2
| Ralph left 2 messages on vmail for Douglas and Lou Rae’s manager at Coldwell Banker, letting him know of
the problems with the transaction caused by Lou Rae. |
-
Feb.
| Swan Pools applies for pool permit with city of Monte Sereno. |
-
3/26
| Ralph contacts Monte Sereno, discusses reason for pool permit denial with Howard Bell,
Andrea Chelemengos and Brian Loventhal, first finds out about impervious structure limit. |
-
3/26-6/20
| Ralph negotiated with Ryan Iwanaga asking for Coldwell Banker to pay for a portion of driveway
replacement, speaking over the phone 2-3 times per week. |
-
3/26-28
| Ryan tells Ralph that Lou Rae went to the city of Monte Sereno and they said the pool would be allowed
if the design was changed. Ralph informs Ryan that Lou Rae is now lying to him, Brian has already said to Ralph, “I
cannot authorize a stepping stone to be installed on your property.” |
-
3/26-28
| Ralph met with Brian Loventhal to discuss options for installing pool. Also discovered that 800 SF
structure was not previously approved for Lynn and will not be allowed now or in the future unless there is a reduction
of 874+800 SF of impervious structure. |
-
3/31
| Gained agreement with Brian Loventhal on replacing driveway with paverstone and got verbal ok to remain 874 SF
over the impervious structure limit. Had to change plans to paverstones around pool instead of concrete and stone.
Understood this concession by the city would not apply to the 800 SF building, only the pool. |
-
Apr.-May
| Got quotes for demolishing current driveway and installing paverstones. |
-
5/22
| Got approval from Monte Sereno to build pool. |
-
6/9
| Ralph delivered letter to Ryan Iwanaga at his request, asking for $42K to pay for a portion of the driveway
replacement as a settlement for all issues with the house. Ryan said this was over his authority level and had to
send it on to his “Headquarters”. |
-
6/11-17
| Ralph called almost daily asking Ryan for resolution. |
-
6/17
| Gave Ryan a deadline of 6/20 for Coldwell Banker to respond to the 6/9 letter. |
-
6/20
| Ryan called to tell Ralph Coldwell Banker will not be responding to the letter, “so do what you have to do”. |
-
6/25
| Ralph met with attorneys at Greene, Chauvel, Descalso & Minoletti to discuss situation. |
-
6/27
| Stephen Thomas, attorney for Coldwell Banker, sends letter to Ralph basically saying “forget it’, finally
responding to Ralph’s letter of 6/9. |
-
Dec.
| Began demolition of cement driveway and replacement with paverstone. |
-
4/26
| Lynn settles lawsuit out of court for home sold in Capitola. |
-
4/27
| Deposition of Ralph. |
-
5/25
| Inspection of Blanchard property by all attorneys and 2 appraisers. |
-
6/5
| Ralph talked to Brian Loventhal, who said that 874 SF of impervious structure would have to be removed,
then 800 SF more in order to build an 800 SF structure. This would require replacing 3348 SF of concrete with
paverstone, but only about 1000-1200 SF of concrete remains on property. |
-
6/7
| Ralph talked to Brian Oram, foreman for the construction of the Blanchard home who verified that fiber optics
was not installed and the data line installer was hired directly by Lynn. |
-
6/9
| Verified with the city of Monte Sereno that the zoning laws for the property have not changed since at least
1989, despite Lynn’s assertion that they had in the mediation session. |
-
7/11
| Deposition of Lou Rae Kagel. |
-
7/24
| Out of court settlement with Douglas Rea. |
-
7/25
| Deposition of Lynn O’Brien. |
-
10/3
| Deposition of Douglas Rea. |
-
11/13
| Deposition of James Stroupe, architect. |
-
11/14
| Deposition of Ron Chandler from Swan Pools. |
-
11/15
| Deposition of Thomasena Simpson. |
-
11/15
| Deposition of Ryan Simpson. |
-
12/11
| Deposition of Ryan Iwanaga, former Manager of Coldwell Banker. |