Dorothea Puente’s locally famous duplex at 1426 F Street in Sacramento has sold for $215,000. This foreclosure property originally listed at $309,800 on 02/26/10 and eventually went to auction after a series of price decreases and over 150 days of market exposure.
This property has a notorious history (can you say “stigma”?) from the 1980s when seven bodies were found on the premises buried in the backyard. Dorothea Puente ran a “boarding house” at this location where she drugged and murdered tenants to cash their social security checks.
More information? I wrote previously about this property twice: Would you buy Dorothea Puente’s house? and Dorothea Puente’s duplex is still on the market. Any takers? The Sacramento Bee published a Puente article yesterday and KCRA did a story too.
Interesting. Thanks for the update. 150 Days doesn’t seem like a long time for a house with such a history. I like your “Murder Sale” tag for the article!
Thanks Bryan. Yeah, it wasn’t as long as it could’ve been. I said “over 150” and I think it was more like 180 or so. I’m glad you like that tag. You never know how people will get here. I did see a “murder / mystery” site recently link to one of my former articles on Dorothea Puente, so maybe they found me through such a tag. 🙂
Sounds like a killer deal! 🙂
Nicely played, Cory. That made me laugh.
I’d like to know what similar properties sold for that didn’t have this kind of negative history. Is that something you can share?
This area the duplex sold in varies quite a bit and is very old, so there may be quite a range in value anyway. I’ll see if I can look up some properties and I’ll email you.
Wow . I have done research for a number of years and have been called by many new homeowners to check out there houses. I have approached these residences with many cameras and equipment to record the environment, setting them up and in some occasions recording them at night. Although the murders bring the market value down. We have been able to prove that even though fear of paranormal activity is present in many people . Many just have a dark history to them. With the exposure of these location on TV some of these properties are bought for Money making purposes. A lot of residents have gotten mad also when we find logical explanations for their supposed activity. It seems they thrive for it and see the opportunity to be on TV. Yet there has been that handful of properties that have left me speachless
It sounds like you have a pretty interesting trade, Masone. I’m not sure what people say about the Puente property in terms of paranormal activity, though the notoriously heinous history is quite obvious. Best wishes to you.