Jiin Song and her family lost their home in a December 2023 electrical fire that caused substantial damage to their Saratoga property. Almost three years later, they’re still waiting for the rebuild to be finished so they can move back to the Saratoga Oaks community.
“We want to go back home,” she told the Los Gatan.
The Song family is living in a single family house in San Jose for now. It’s not the home they saw themselves in as they raised their children past their teenage years. Instead, the family has found themselves completely upended by an accidental fire. The Songs never thought they’d be waiting three years to move back into their home.
Song said she was grateful for the community response after the fire. From the elementary and middle school their children attended, to friends and even strangers who let them live with them.
The Songs moved four times in the first four months after the fire. Then, they found a two-bedroom guest house in Saratoga. It was nowhere near the size of the one that burned down. “We decided to go ahead and make that our temporary home,” Song said. But it turned out the reduced size wasn’t that much of a problem, “because we didn’t have much with us. Because everything was burnt.”
The Song’s house fire moderately damaged two neighboring townhomes. Those neighbors are back in their houses after repairs were made, which Song said took nine months. One of the affected neighbors, who was in her 80s, decided to visit family around the country during that period, she noted.
The Songs stayed put in Saratoga and continued to wait. They stayed in the guest house for 18 months. But the owner decided to sell it. This meant the Songs had to move a fifth time.
The San Jose home the Songs are in now was move number six. They still refer to it as their temporary home. It’s a change from the home that burned down. It’s a big downsize and doesn’t feel like “home.” But after two years, “my husband and I were done with living in the living room,” Song said. “We all needed a room.”
Song and her husband Young-Joon Lee have been documenting the timeline of events. They feel the HOA and insurance companies have been unresponsive to their multiple inquiries. WKFC and the California FAIR Plan (which initially denied the Songs’ claim, saying they hadn’t reached their deductible) both have pieces of the insurance risk.
Part of the problem is the HOA is responsible for insuring all townhomes on the Saratoga Oaks’ lot in the case of damages such as fires. This means the Songs are not named on the policy. When the Songs reach out to the insurance company through Sedgwick, a third-party claims administrator, they receive answers they view as inadequate.
The Los Gatan made multiple attempts to reach a Sedgwick representative who we were directed to contact by both Song and the HOA’s legal team.
As for the HOA, it’s frustrated too, according to its attorney Ronald Cook, of Cook Law Group, in Los Gatos. “We’re in the same boat as them,” Cook said. “We don’t get any better answers than they do.”
For the Songs, it’s not easy to keep waiting. “We’d like our home to be rebuilt,” Song said as she became audibly emotional over the phone. “My two kids were in middle school. My older one is going to go to college next year. I really want to spend some time before my son goes off to college.”
The Songs have been able to maintain some aspects of their former lives. They have kept their children in the same school system. They continue to pay $700 a month in HOA fees on top of mortgage payments, Song added.
It’s unclear if there is any end in sight for the Songs as they approach a third Christmas elsewhere.
“We’re just waiting,” Song said. “We’ve been so patient.”
Meanwhile, the Saratoga Oaks’ HOA continues to press to get the townhome rebuilt. “The Homeowner’s Association (has) done everything we can to get the insurance company moving on this thing,” said Cook.
According to Song, a geotechnical review and an insurance payout still stand in the way of getting their townhome rebuilt. The Songs said they would be willing to pay for the geotechnical review out of pocket if that would get the ball rolling on rebuilding. It’s needed to legalize an unpermitted addition to the basement with a wine cellar the Songs say was constructed by a previous owner.
The HOA’s attorney expressed empathy with the homeowners. “The HOA owns it, and they want to see it rebuilt,” Cook said. “So we have a unity of interest in wanting it to be fixed. And we have a unity of interest against WKFC to make sure we get enough money to make it get fixed.”
The Los Gatan first reached out to Sedgwick account consultant Katie Clark on Thursday. Multiple attempts to reach Clark on Friday were also unsuccessful. Instead, she sent an email Friday to the HOA’s lawyer confirming they would now be willing to advance $150,000 for construction, though the overall budget is yet to be approved.
