Property flip costs city

Andrew McIntosh of The Sacramento Bee reports on a real estate transaction by the city of Sacramento which netted an Orange County developer nearly $1 million. In failing to get the details on the property's sale history, the city ended up paying a record price for the land - $218 per square foot when similar properties went for anywhere from $98-145 per square foot and more than twice what the developer originally paid for it.. "Robert Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies, a nonprofit that specializes in political ethics, said city staff should have detailed the property flip -- the Clippingers' recent purchase and potential profit -- for the City Council."