New Haven Independent

Toilets won’t be flushing any time soon or the water running at 101 Bristol, which Dr. Lonnie Garris (pictured in file photo) toured before he bid $10,000 for it at a foreclosure sale Saturday.

The disastrous condition of the house’s interior was offset, in Garris’s view, by the charm of the facade and the good location of the house.

In addition to the $10,000, Garris will have to take on the $8,524.10 in debts to the sewer agency, for which the WPCA put a lien against the property, as well as a whopping $25,000 in unpaid city taxes. Less than half of that debt to the WPCA, $3,684, comes from unpaid bills. The rest mounted as the WPCA pressed foreclosure: $364 for lines, and $4,475.17 in interest on the debt, according to figures the agency released late Monday.

It appears the house has been abandoned for some time, with domestic icicles on all the floors and thin sheets of ice covering piles of clothing, boxes, shoes, and other forlorn remains of a family long gone.

The WPCA has been among the most aggressive filer of lawsuits in the city’s current foreclosure crisis. It has filed 120 foreclosure suits just since Jan. 1, 2008, and a total of 250 since it became an independent agency in August of 2005, according to acting chief Gabe Varca.

Its aggressiveness drew criticism form local housing advocates, a foreclosure judge, and elected officials. In response, WPCA officials claimed they never actually take possession of the homes on which they file suits.

Saturday was a different story.

Click here, here, and here to read previous stories on aggressive WPCA collection policy and its critics.

It was not the first attempt the WPCA made to foreclose on the 121-year-old charmer, whose record of ownership shows that only one party, Lucretia Faulk, owned the property since her purchase in 1974. She entered a nursing home. Her children then lived in the house until the WPCA foreclosure.

In November 2007 a first foreclosure action was instigated against Faulk by the WPCA. The first foreclosure sale took place in September 2008. Garris attended that but lost out to another bidder, who was successful offering $81,000 for the house, then appraised at $185,000.

However, when that buyer was able to get inside, according to court records, he discovered the conditions were grim. His bank would not give him a loan to pay the balance of the sale price.

Saturday morning’s appraisal was $85,000, a drop of $100,000. It was caused both by the fall in the market generally and by what the court record called “deterioration due to vandalism, water and ice damage, and uninhabitable conditions.”

Garris, however, had been so taken by the charm of the house, its location near to Yale and the Rose Community Center, that he came back again. This second time, he was successful.

That is, if the court approves a sale for such a low price. The required deposit, based on the previous appraisal, was $18,500. Court-appointed lawyer Joseph Sensale (to the left in the photo with Garris), who conducted the sale expeditiously in frigid air, suggested the judge might not approve a sale where the sale price was barely half of the deposit.

If the house does come to him, Garris said his immediate steps would be to secure it, then hire a company to clean it out, and then restore it. The outside, with its dabs of color on the façade, especially the doorway, indicates it was loved once. He said he’s going to keep the facade the same. He estimated the complete restoration of the inside would take at least another $100,000.

Garris said he’ll rent the property out. If Garris family members decide not to live in the house when it’s repaired.

$1,624 In Debt Leads
To 2nd Scheduled Sale

Another property the WPCA attempted to foreclose on Saturday was this 1968-era mixed use commercial building at 180-184 and 178 Dixwell Ave.,in the commercial Dixwell Plaza. At the 11th hour, the judge gave a 90-day extension, allowing the parties to work matters out.

According to WPCA figures, more than half the debt on the property is for fees to attorneys hired to handle the foreclosure: $4,390.80. Another $4,194.16 is owed in debt to the WPCA, mostly principal ($3,341.81). The owners of record are William and Christine Jones.

“Foreclosure is a last resort, when all other collection efforts have been unsuccessful,” Varca stated. “The current criteria are that the debt must be over $1,000 and at least one lien must be filed.”

Previous Independent coverage of New Haven’s foreclosure crisis:

• Foreclosure Evictions Halted
• Hazel St. Sale Reflects Economic Climate
• Hill Foreclosure Triggers Memories, & Prayers
• Foreclosure Fee-Slashing Judge Leaves Town
• She’ll Be Watching Deutsche Bank
• A Last Pre-Foreclosure Look At A Lifetime Past
• New Yorker Snags Foreclosed-Upon Gem
• Foreclosure Dream Goes Sour
• Judge Slashes Foreclosure Bounty
• Tax Break Saves Woman’s House
• Bank Replaces “Gunshot Alley” Landlord
• Foreclosure Bill OK’d
• Singh Seeks Home For A Song
• Foreclosure’s Neighbor Worries More About Speeding
• Networking Replaces Foreclosure at Christy’s
• 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.