Slide Dooms $2.5-Million Home in Anaheim Hills

A large $2.5-million home in Anaheim Hills teetered precariously off its hillside foundation Saturday, its groaning wood and shattering glass drawing neighbors who waited for its seemingly inevitable collapse.

The house, situated atop a slow-moving landslide, was red-tagged by Anaheim officials about a month ago, forcing its owners to move out without much of their furniture.

The slide accelerated dramatically Saturday -- from an inch a day to 2 feet -- causing the rear of the home to begin slipping down a grassy hillside and toward a private street closed to traffic.

The owners watched as window frames bent under pressure and inch-wide cracks burst into gaping crevices.

“It just happened so fast,” said owner Ali Kabiri, pacing nervously. “Yesterday it was not like this.”

Barbara Cole, who lives next door, heard the unsettling sounds while walking her dog early Saturday. “I thought somebody was in there slamming doors,” Cole said.

The 5,000-square-foot stucco home was built in 2003. Its owners had lived there for just eight months before foundation cracks appeared in January.

An unfinished home next door was also red-tagged after it also began to crack ominously.

Anaheim firefighters and police monitored the situation Saturday, saying the matter is more for attorneys and geologists than emergency crews.

Utilities were shut off weeks ago, and city officials said that the structure’s probable collapse would not affect public streets.

The slide at the top of Ramsgate Lane is within the gated Royal Ridge community, above the Riverside Freeway in the Santa Ana Canyon. Homes range from 3 to 12 years old.

Among those watching the unfolding drama was Kathleen Simonds of Orange, who had planned to bid on a house up the street.

“We were 20 minutes away from putting down an offer,” Simonds said. “We’re still going to buy on a hill -- just not this hill.”

The home that began sliding was built as a traditional two-story atop the hillside rather than carved into it. It also was not built on pilings, said Mike Hearn, the owner’s attorney.

“We’re looking into possible mistakes made in the construction or design,” Hearn said. “The house was built as designed and approved by the city of Anaheim. If the city had seen it as a problem, we should not have been allowed to build.”