Homes Saved From Caltrans Wrecking Ball Go Up for Sale in Anaheim

A six-bedroom Anaheim home on sale for only $160,000? Yes, this is a piece of real real estate.

Caltrans, much more accustomed to knocking houses down, is holding open houses today for five houses originally scheduled for destruction.

They are listed at prices up to 30% below their market value. These and 15 others were purchased by Caltrans as part of a plan to expand the Artesia Freeway.

Because the $180-million project did not use all of the purchased land, so Caltrans restored the remaining homes and put them back on the market.

“These are very nice homes in a family neighborhood,” said Daniel Dunn, Caltrans manager of the excess-land branch. “The only downside is that the [freeway] sound wall is your backyard.”

Other houses, valued at up to $270,000, will be auctioned next week at prices starting at $159,000.

“The homes are worth a whole lot more than they are selling for,” said Warren Wallen, 74, who formerly owned one of the houses being resold.

For 24 years, Wallen and his wife lived in that Anaheim home. They planned to spend the rest of their lives there and eventually leave it for their granddaughter.

It was a close-knit cul-de-sac where families could turn over house keys to neighbors whenever they went on vacation. Although it was hard to depart, Wallen said there were surprising benefits to moving.

“At the outset, we thought this was the most disastrous situation to be in,” Wallen said. “But it probably was the best thing that ever happened to us.”

The retired couple now live in a gated community for seniors in Mission Viejo. Their new home may be smaller, more modest and a tad more restrictive because it is in a planned community.

But there are advantages, too, Wallen said, such as no more traffic noise wafting through from the freeway.

Caltrans officials concede that forcing families to move is a difficult procedure, but they say laws and programs help ease the pain of relocation for those who are forced to move.

The laws mandate that Caltrans must pay the homeowners the full amount of the appraised value.

The agency provides the homeowners with lists of comparable property in the area, transportation to sites for those disadvantaged or disabled, and help obtaining financing, among other things.

“They didn’t choose to move,” said Caltrans relocation agent Barbara Baernstein. “We do whatever it takes to qualify them for a new home.”

And the former homeowners always have first dibs when the excess homes go back on the market, Baernstein said. But most residents don’t return.

The houses on sale can be viewed from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today at lots on North Cozy Terrace, East Briarvale Avenue and Earl Circle.

The auction will be at 10 a.m. March 1. For more information, call Caltrans at (714) 724-2000.