New Haven Independent

Singh, whose New Delhi-rooted family has been in the New Haven area for 20 years, operates a grocery store in Hamden. He was intrigued by the two-family house on Munson, which appeared to be in not bad shape. An empty yard with tended grass lay on one side; on the other a similar house was being sold by Century 21. It was nicely tended as well with a kid’s plastic tricycle in the front yard.

So Singh showed up at Saturday morning’s foreclosure sale. He wanted to get inside of 210 Munson to check it out. When Jennifer Sadaka, the court-appointed attorney handling the sale, appeared, she said sure. “However, you only have five minutes to look. We begin at 11.”

It did not appear that any other potential buyers or even curiosity seekers would be showing up.

In the meantime, Singh and several members of his family tried the doors, front and back, of the house that the owner, Caleb Roach, had given up on. Roach’s two mortgages, taken out with a local outfit called Option One and since bundled over to California-based Wells Fargo, had ballooned to $160,000. He also owed $5,000 on unpaid water and sewer taxes.

A peculiar feature of the proceeding was that the Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) had not attached a lien to the property based on the sizeable unpaid water bill. WPCA has a history of placing liens on properties for far less.

The doors that Singh tried to open were solid, locked, and would not give.

As Singh continued to circumambulate the tall beige structure, he was troubled by piles of garbage he spotted in the immediate back yard. He emerged back onto the sidewalk. Sadaka opened her folder and informed Singh that the bank’s bid was $160,000 — roughly the amount of Caleb Roach’s debt — Singh was even more troubled.

“The place needs a lot of work.” His mother nodded.

“And the neighborhood is not so great either.” She nodded again.

A white Buick, sparkling in the sun as if newly washed, rolled up and parked. A buyer? It turned out to be only the neighbor on the other side of the vacant lot, James Tate. With a minute to go before the formal offering of the bank’s bid, Singh sprinted over to Tate and asked him about the street and the neighborhood.

“It’s all right,” he said. “Crime’s not bad. It’s quiet. It’s a nice house too.”

Then Singh asked about the park land immediately to the north across Munson Street. “Oh, that’s Science Park,” said Tate. “It’ll only get better around here.”

Singh looked up. Indeed, behind the large catalpa there was a line of fairly newly planted pine trees. The crows and catbirds were cawing and calling away in the topmost branches, The hammers of Science Park construction crews tapped an accidental accompaniment in the background a few blocks away.

Idyllic it was not, but nice it was. Still Singh’s doubts persisted. He had a certified check for $20,500 in his pocket. He kept it there as Sadaka opened the formal moment of the sale and repeated that Wells Fargo’s faxed-in bid was $160,000 against the recent appraised fair market price of the house, $205,000.

“I was planning on bidding maybe $60,000,” said Singh. “The house needs work and we can’t get inside. There’ll be a lot more work there, maybe $50,000 more.”

The birdsong and the light streaming through the trees apparently were just not persuasive enough.

“I don’t think so,” Singh said, as he thrust his hands in his pocket.

However, he was not quite through. Attorney Sadaka gave Singh the contact information for the bank’s attorney.

“The banks need cash these days,” said one of Singh’s relatives. “What do they want this house for? They’re not going to sell it for $160,000.”

“But you couldn’t offer $60,000 either,” cautioned Sadaka. She felt fairly certain that despite the strained financial situation of banks, “the court would accept the $160,000 because it meets the threshold, which is about 70 percent of the fair market value.”

As Singh got into his car, with that information in hand, it wasn’t clear if he were going to call Wells Fargo and negotiate, or simply let this house go and look elsewhere. Unaware of bailouts and rescues and foreclosures or even the fate of nearby 210 Munson Street, the birds of Science Park kept chattering away.

Previous Independent coverage of New Haven’s foreclosure crisis:

• Foreclosure Bargain — & Renewal — Jeopardized
• Bank Outbids Akbar; Family May Keep Home
• “So Don’t Worry About Pablo”
• Bankruptcy Postpones Foreclosure
• Next-Door Foreclosures, 53 Years Apart
• They Met On Foreclosure Way
• Little Garage Draws Big Bids
• A 2nd Chance on Lewis Street
• Foreclosure Attracts New Breed of “Specialist”
• In Foreclosures, Judge’s Hands Tied
• Home Saved From Foreclosure. Cycle, Too
• A House For Precious?
• Deutsche Bank Grabs Dixwell Condo
• Reluctant Bidder Snags F. Haven Bargain
• Well, There’s Always Powerball
• Neighbors Retrieve Home From Bank
• Somebody Has Plans For Bassett Street
• 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”

To learn about the ROOF Project, a community-wide effort to help New Haveners navigate the foreclosure crisis, click here.

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.