Deborah Norville
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$3 Million Foreclosed Home Destroyed

Airdate: 3/31/2009
It looks like a dream home, a $3 million California mansion with stunning views of the Pacific Ocean.

But like thousands of other American homes, this is now a foreclosed property, and the inside looks horrific.

"They took the entire bathtub, they took out the wood plank floor, they've removed plenty of cabinet doors, and if we walk over here, we can see they actually took the toilet itself," says realtor Tom Moon, who showed INSIDE EDITION around the house.

Moon is used to handling repossessed houses, but even he's appalled at the damage to a home in ritzy Huntington Beach, near Los Angeles.

"We have a sink and we have the cabinets, and we have the countertops, all missing," Moon says of the bathroom.

Even the kitchen has been gutted.  The refrigerator, the cabinets, the dishwasher, the stove, range, microwave, literally everything is gone.

"We're assuming the occupants, the former homeowners; we're assuming they did the damage," says Moon.

But he points out that the house could have been vandalized by someone other than the last owners.  He says whoever did strip the house took their time.

"To try to disconnect everything, this is hours upon hours upon hours.  This is just pure spite for someone to take this.  You really can't put it on Craigslist and sell it for $50," says Moon.

Even the shower door and the stair rails in the three-story house are missing.

The bill to fix up each room is frightening.  Moon says it will be "at least $15,000" to fix up the bathroom.  Of the kitchen, he says, "A new person that would come in and do a kitchen in a house like this might say we're going to put in a $30,000 kitchen here"

The estimated total cost to restore the home is $200,000.

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