Albert Chu and Minnie Vo were braving an afternoon of open house tours Sunday when they stumbled upon a single-family home at 930 Monterey Blvd. It was a foreclosed home put on sale by a bank on a pretty, palm-strewn block in Westwood Highlands.
The home, listed for $1.5 million, smelled strongly of paint, and the couple assumed it “was just a crappy house that was renovated.” But when the pair were told that a murder-suicide had left a family of four dead in the home less than six months ago, they had trouble processing the news.
“Oh, my God,” Chu said. “Holy shit.” “Creepy” and “hella weird” were two descriptors they chose after walking out.
The family who died in the home purchased it for $1.35 million in 2014 before losing it to foreclosure. | Source: Tâm Vũ for The Standard
A surreal San Francisco housing market shaped by an influx of AI wealth and a shortage of supply means that even a home marred by a horrific event draws interested buyers. On Sunday, a steady stream of house hunters checked out the 1,793-square-foot, three-bed, two-bath home.
In California, home sellers are legally required to notify prospective buyers about any death on the property over the previous three years. Such homes are known as “stigmatized properties” — places marked not by physical flaws but by what happened inside them.
These properties often languish on the market and sell at a discount (opens in new tab), but a Santa Clara home that was the site of a 2024 murder took only nine days to get an offer (opens in new tab) at its $2.1 million asking price.
The family that died in the Westwood Highlands home purchased it for $1.35 million in 2014 before losing it to foreclosure amid mounting debt from failing businesses. In October, Paula Truong shot her husband, Thomas Russell Ocheltree, and their 9- and 12-year-old daughters in their beds before killing herself in the garage, according to the San Francisco Police Department. It was a devastating shock for a quiet, affluent neighborhood.
Hollis Bathen, the listing broker at Sotheby’s, readily discloses the tragedy to inquirers.
“A majority of the people coming here don’t know until they get here,” Bathen said. “There’s a big buyer pool we will lose just for cultural reasons.”
A fresh coat of paint has been added to the property, which has a sizable living room. | Source: Photo by Ezra Wallach
At Sunday’s open house, Bathen slipped in that there had been a murder-suicide between touting to cringing shoppers the home’s floor plan and natural light.
“We had two people who were like, you know, ‘I just want to bring some love into this house,’” she said.
Not all shoppers agreed.
“It definitely immediately changed the way we feel about it,” said one man who was touring the home with his wife.
Still, some said what had happened there didn’t matter — whether they knew about it before or were notified soon after walking inside. Homes in San Francisco are “so fucking expensive,” said Mike W., 59. “Something like that wouldn’t dissuade anyone.”
Sejal Kotak, 34, said she was disturbed by the tragedy but didn’t see how it would change her perception of the house. After all, there’s a lot to like: a kitchen island, bay windows, refinished hardwood floors, and new light fixtures.
Kotak toured the property with her husband and their 8-month-old son. They live in Mountain View but are looking to move to the city for her husband’s job.
“We care about getting a good deal,” Kotak said. “Maybe it is a reason to negotiate.”
And, she added, “we don’t believe in ghosts.”