Flipping houses and flipping a legacy for charity in Santa Cruz County
A man’s dying wish to have the proceeds of his home go to benefit at-risk youth may soon be coming to fruition in the form of a new Boys and Girls Club facility in Scotts Valley.
When Rusty Hartman died, his Felton property was in a state of disrepair. The property, once used as a spiritual retreat center, had been built without proper permits and was in violation of multiple county building codes. It had been red-tagged by the county; Hartman’s estate owed money to contractors and vendors, and was also embroiled in legal disputes.
The estate’s trust executor approached Michael Bethke, who is known locally as being something of an expert on planning and code issues.
Bethke and a coalition were able to work out a plan that Bethke likens to the concept of house-flipping for a good cause. The team has worked tirelessly to renovate the property and remove all red tags.
“It’s ironic and a poetic turn of events,” said Bethke, the project manager for the Rusty Hartman Living Trust.
“His property there on Rosebloom has the dubious distinction of being the most notorious code violation case in the county Planning and Building Department,” Bethke said.
As soon as the house in Felton is up to code and ready to sell, half of the proceeds will go toward staffing the Boys & Girls Club, which is currently an empty building in an old RV dealership lot in Scotts Valley.
“If we can show the world that we can do that with the worst-case one, then the rest should just be duck soup,” Bethke said.
The rest? So this isn’t the only house?
“Oh heck no, this is just the beginning,” he said.
Bethke is calling the project “For Sale For Good” and he’s hoping that Rusty’s Retreat is just the first case of a property being fixed up and sold for a good cause.
Bethke said the Boys and Girls Club of the Valleys needs an overall $4 million to complete its full facility. If they flip 10 more houses for $100,000, the club’s original donors have vowed to match that million.
The Rusty’s Retreat property is slated to go on the market by the beginning of November. Realtor Lizabeth K. Morell with Bailey Properties is listing the property and will be organizing a kickoff event on Oct. 30 at the Santa Cruz Police Department’s Community Room at 155 Center St. in Santa Cruz from 6 to 8 p.m.
At the event, a short film about the project, called “Rusty’s Redemption,” will be screened. More information about the real estate listing is here.
“We’ve researched this and we haven’t seen anybody else doing this anywhere else in the country,” Bethke said.
Boys & Girls Club isn’t the only one benefiting from this project. Jacob’s Heart Children Cancer Support Services and Santa Cruz County programs BASTA and PRIDE will also get a cut.
