New Haven Independent

The sale took place Saturday morning. Cathy Weber (at right in photo), a neighborhood Democratic ward co-chair and current head of the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals, showed up out of curiosity about what was happening in her neighborhood. She kept a watchful eye on the lawyer who won the property at the corner of Dixwell and Bassett at the auction on behalf of an unnamed client.

That lawyer, Murray Trachten (at left in photo), happens to be Weber’s predecessor as zoning board chief.

The city foreclosed on 223-225 Bassett St. for several years’ back taxes and fees. The city bid the amount owed, $13,400. Trachten bid $13,500.

Trachten, who headed the BZA between 1992 and 2003, said since that public service stint he has largely been in private legal practice as well as teaching law. He was at the commercial foreclosure in his capacity as a lawyer in private practice. In the purchase, he said he was representing a party, but declined to reveal a name.

“Our next step,” he said, “is to check various laws and ordinances and to see where we can go.”

Trachten said he was not sure if the property, previously owned by one Harold Russell, purchased in 2002 for $100,000 and appraised for $200,000, includes a slash of grass that is now a resting place for numerous mattresses and other residential debris.

The formal appraisal of the property, done by Advanced Appraisal of West Haven, also suggested that, given the nature of the past business on the site, there might be environmental issues to deal with below the ground as well. That appraisal, by the way, cost $1850, some six times the cost of a residential appraisal. It will be part of the costs that Trachten’s client, along with the back taxes, will be paying as part of the purchase.

There was also some discussion as to whether a future next stretch of the Farmington Canal would be running nearby, perhaps between Trachten’s client’s new property and the lovely, well-tended Bassett-Watson Greenspace park adjacent.

“We just read about the property,” said Trachten, “and we’ll check it out. We’ll do a survey first.”

Weber was surprised to learn that the property was appraised for $200,000. And she was surprised to learn that the owner was losing it not to a bank, for there was no mortgage, but to the city simply for failure to pay back taxes of some $6,000 dating from 2006. That figure, with interest and fees, had ballooned close to the $13,000 figure, which the city had bid.

“In any event, I think the city is doing well with collecting its taxes. People should pay,” she said. “Who knows why the owner didn’t pay his taxes, if he was ill or lost a job. The Bible says not to cast judgment.”

The court’s committee, or attorney, Robert Schwab, duly noted the John Hancock of Richard F. DeJohn, II, who had come by out of curiosity, and now served as one of the witnesses to make the deal official. There was still the question if the court would let the purchase stand.

Judges can order a re-sale, if the purchase doesn’t equal approximately 50 or 60 percent of the appraised value, which in this case would be closer to $100,000, and not the $13,500. Asked about this Trachten mused for a moment, then said. “Look, I’ve heard of judges who when they look at things like this, they say, if there wasn’t a hurricane or a snowstorm to keep people away from the foreclosure sale, think to themselves: What purpose is served by doing it again? All you do is run up more attorneys’ fees and advertising and sign costs, and so forth.”

If he lucks out, what does he think his client would put in the spacious and convenient location, a commercial or residential project?

“Oh, I can’t be certain,” he said, “but likely commercial. Talk to me in two months.”

Previous Independent coverage of New Haven’s foreclosure crisis:

• Foreclosed, the Khennavongs Leave the Santanas
• Foreclosure Steal May Be Too Good
• 2nd Foreclosure in 3 Months Dims Bright St.
• After Foreclosure, W’ville Owner Still Hopes To Sell
• He’s Not Buying, Yet
• Quiet Foreclosure on Porter Street
• 3 Minutes Too Late
• Historic Gambardella Property Foreclosed
•2 Homes Lost, 1 Gained
• “Everybody’s Got To Eat”
• More Foreclosures, More Signs
• Foreclosure Sale Benefits Archie Moore’s
• Rescue Squad Swings Into Action
• A Bidder Shows Up
• Bank Beats Tanya’s Bid
• Westville Auction Draws A Crowd
• DeStefano: Foreclosure Plan Ready
• Can They Help?
• “We Should Over-Regulate These Bastards”
• Rosa Hears of Rescues
• WPCA Grilled on Foreclosures
• WPCA’s Targets Struggle To Dig Out
• Sue The Subprimers?
• WPCA Hearing Delayed
• Megna’s “Blood Boils” at WPCA Tactics
• Goldfield Wants WPCA Answers
• 2 Days, 8 Foreclosure Suits
• WPCA Goes On Foreclosure Binge
• A Guru Weighs In
• WPCA Targets Church
• Subprime Mess Targeted
• Renters Caught In Foreclosure King’s Fall
• She’s One Of 1,150 In The Foreclosure Mill
• Foreclosures Threaten Perrotti’s Empire
•“I’m Not Going To Lay Down And Let Them Take My House”
• Struggling Couple Sues Over “Scam”

The following links are to various materials and brochures designed to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.

How to prepare a complaint to the Department of Banking; Department of Banking Online Assistance Form; Connecticut Department of Banking, Avoiding Foreclosure; FDIC Consumer News; Statewide Legal Services of Connecticut, Inc; Connecticut Bar Association Lawyer Referral Service.

For lawyer referral services in New Haven, call 562-5750 or visit this website. For the Department of Social Services (DSS) Eviction Foreclosure Prevention Program (EFPP), call 211 to see which community-based organization in the state serves your town.

Click here for information on foreclosure prevention efforts from Empower New Haven.