Former Atwater mayor, others pitch in to help property

ATWATER -- The lawn of a house on the corner of Spyglass Court and Harbor Drive was freshly cut and glistening with water Tuesday morning -- not because of a proud owner, but because of a proud former mayor and his neighbors.

When the owner of 3290 Spyglass Court vacated her house, Rudy Trevino, a former mayor who lives across the street from the property, and a few concerned neighbors decided they'd take care of the property.

One neighbor mowed the lawn, another trimmed the hedges and another watered the lawn, Trevino said. But they ran into a problem when the city shut off the water to the abandoned house.

In an effort to keep up the neighborhood's image, Trevino decided to pay the water bill for the property -- $15.65 per month, according to city records. So far, he's paid for one month.

Trevino thinks he got the sweet end of the deal compared to his neighbors.

"I figured they're doing all the hard work," he said. "They're mowing the lawn and raking the leaves. I got the easy job -- I just write a check."

Trevino decided to underwrite the water bill not only for aesthetic reasons, but also financial, he said.

"This is not good for anyone," Trevino said. "If you get a house next door to you that's all rundown, it detracts the value of the entire neighborhood."

And Trevino should know. He's been working in real estate as a broker for 54 years. During that time, he's never seen the market drop to where it is now. "I have never seen it this bad," he said. "We've had good times and bad times, but not like this."

Because of unkempt front yards, it's not hard to pick out houses that have been vacated, he said.

"It's easy to see as you drive through our city which homes have been foreclosed on and which homes have been abandoned," Trevino said. "These are hard times for a lot of people. For a lot of reasons, a lot of good people are losing their homes."

Living next to the abandoned house, which has a severely vandalized interior, is a little easier for Brenda Callahan-Johnson since Trevino took on the water bill.

"We have to see that house and that yard every day," she said. "It could be sitting there for a long time."

The effort to keep the exterior of the house looking nice is "a reflection of the entire neighborhood," Callahan-Johnson said.

It isn't clear exactly what the status of the house is at this point, and it hasn't been labeled as foreclosed, said Craig Mooneyham, broker/owner of RE/MAX Local Realty in Atwater.

Trevino thinks if others who live near foreclosed or abandoned houses take the time to care for the yard, the result would benefit them in the long run. He also suggests splitting up the water bill among a few neighbors if cost is an issue.

"Those of us who are a little more fortunate than others, this is our time to do something," Trevino said. "A well-kept house will attract the kind of people that normally would be good neighbors."

Reporter Mike North can be reached at (209) 385-2453 or mnorth@mercedsun-star.com.