New Haven Independent

When this house, on little Maltby Street, between Grand Avenue and Clay Street, went into foreclosure proceedings in January of this year, it was appraised at $227,000. By Saturday, when it was repossessed by the bank, the appraisal had dropped more than $20,000.

The still-solid looking 99-year-old three-family was bought by Miguel Rodriguez, according to the court record, in October 2005, for $200,000. That represented what was apparently a handsome profit for the previous owner, Yolanda Rivera, who had purchased it in July 2004 for $137,000.

Things appeared to go well enough for Rodriguez for the first year, and you couldn’t blame him, during the rising real estate market, for believing the value would continue to grow.

Each of the three rental units in the house yielded — or were supposed to have yielded — $850 each, which should have been enough to cover mortgage payments on the $178,000 loan Rodriguez took out to pay for the house.

He apparently struggled with payments, however. By January, a strict foreclosure action was filed against him by “Wells Fargo as trustee for Option One Mortgage Loan Trust Corporation (Asset-Backed Certificates Series 2006-1)” of Irvine, California. The loan, at 12 percent interest, had grown by $9,906 to $187,177.

On Saturday morning, the foreclosure proceeded, conducted by Attorney Francis J. Doherty of Hamden. As the appraised value was $205,000, Doherty bid, on behalf of the plaintiff, $205,928.46, and the house was thereby taken back by the bank.

According to the attorney, no one else appeared for the sale. As committee, that is, as attorney appointed by the court to run the auction, he said he didn’t know if there were tenants in the house. “But people were walking in and out,” he added, “during the auction.”

Several hours later, a reporter talked to neighbors on the block. They hadn’t been at the auction either, but they knew what happened. Of the now former owner, Miguel Rodriguez, one man said, “He’s a nice man, and it’s a nice house. It’s too bad he had to let it go.”