Belsher’s San Luis Obispo home sold for $600,000 at sheriff’s auction
July 17, 2025
By KAREN VELIE
Attorney John Belsher’s home in San Luis Obispo sold for $600,000 at a sheriff’s auction on Wednesday to help pay a $3.6 million civil fraud judgement.
The five-bedroom home on El Cerrito Street is valued at approximately $2 million. The winning bidder, the holder of the judgement, is also required to pay between $500,000 and $600,000 to cover leans on the property.
For years, Belsher bilked his clients out of millions of dollars while living a life of luxury. In May 2024, Superior Court Judge Michael Kelley ordered Belsher and his former business partner Ryan Petetit-Wright to pay a more than $3.6 million judgement to Jeff and Debora Chase.
John Belsher and Ryan Petetit-Wright
Under their PB Companies’ name, Belsher and Petetit-Wright borrowed money from banks and hard money lenders as they worked to develop a dozen projects they valued at over $300 million. Belsher also solicited his friends and clients to invest, a group that included Jeff and Debora Chase.
Jeff Chase and Belsher became close friends while attending San Luis Obispo High School and even closer during their college years.
Jeff Chase, John Belsher, Debora Chase and Carolyn Young in 1979
In Aug. 2013, Belsher offered Jeff Chase a 100% return for investing in a 259-unit residential PB Companies project – Mission Oaks Camarillo. The Chases invested $500,000 with a promise of a $1 million return. Instead of honoring his agreement, Belsher wrote the Chases a check for $600,000 while persuading the couple to roll the remaining $400,000 into another project.
A month later, in Sept. 2013, the Chases invested $400,000 in Las Tablas Villas – a 41-unit residential project in Templeton. From Nov. 2013 through 2016, the couple invested in four more projects.
Belsher and Petetit-Wright, however, failed to finish most of their projects or reimburse the Chases while living lives of luxury, including leasing private jets, buying expensive cars and traveling abroad.
After Belsher and Petetit-Wright failed to return the Chases’ investments, in 2018, Jeff and Debora Chase filed a lawsuit that accused Belsher and Peteti-Wright of bilking them out of nearly $3 million they invested in the developers’ projects.
Twenty-two people attended the sheriff’s auction on Wednesday. Jeff Chase made an opening bid of $10,000. Only one other person bid on the property.
In the end, Jeff Chase made a $600,000 bid and won the auction. Instead of making a cash payment, the purchase price is charged to the money Belsher owes the Chases.
Because we believe the public needs the facts, the truth, CalCoastNews has not put up a paywall because it limits readership. However, we are seeking qualification as a paper of record, which will allow us to publish public notices, but it requires 5,000 paid subscribers.
Your subscription will help us to continue investigating and reporting the news.
Support CalCoastNews, subscribe today, click here.
The comments below represent the opinion of the writer and do not represent the views or policies of CalCoastNews.com. Please address the Policies, events and arguments, not the person. Constructive debate is good; mockery, taunting, and name calling is not. Comment Guidelines