Newhallville Native Tops Bassett Auction

Hugh Edwards returned home to Newhallville — and left with a chance to revive a dilapidated home just a few blocks away from where he grew up.

Edwards, a 56-year-old Yale New Haven Hospital chef and photographer, emerged on top of a brief, rain-spattered foreclosure auction held Saturday at noon on the sidewalk in front of 193 – 195 Bassett St.

With a high bid of $91,000, Edwards took a big step towards taking ownership of and — he hopes — renovating and renting out the worn-down two-family house that stands roughly half a mile from where he grew up on Sheldon Terrace.

“I don’t know what I’m walking into,” he said with an apprehensive smile beneath his black-and-white Yankees cap. 

Edwards ticked through the repairs he’d likely need to make to turn the house into a viable rental: A new roof. New windows. Who knows what for the building’s as-yet-unseen insides. He guessed it would cost at least $100,000 to fix in whole. ​“It needs a lot of work,” he said. 

Which brought Edwards, who now lives in Guilford and owns one rental property in Ansonia, back to why he had shown up at Saturday’s auction in the first place: ​“I’m looking for an opportunity to invest in the neighborhood” he grew up in.

State court records show that the City of New Haven initiated a tax foreclosure lawsuit against 193 Bassett’s then owner, 20-Gerrish LLC, back in 2018. A state judge issued a judgment of foreclosure by sale in December 2019 in which she identified the property’s outstanding debt as topping $50,750.

Subsequent court records show a convoluted few years to follow for this case: The trial court pushed out the foreclosure sale date due to the onset of the pandemic. The holding company that owned 193 Bassett quit-claimed the property to Jerome Dunbar, who was one of the holding company’s managers, and tried in vain to substitute him as the defendant. Dunbar appealed the case to the state appellate court, which dismissed his motion. The trial court entered another judgment of foreclosure by sale in December 2022. Dunbar filed another appeal, which was again dismissed by the higher court. The trial court entered another judgment of foreclosure by sale in December 2023; Dunbar filed another appeal

Finally, in February of this year, the trial court agreed with the city not to delay the foreclosure sale any longer as Dunbar was still not an official party in the case. (Dunbar could not be reached for comment by the publication time of this article.)

All of which led to Saturday’s auction. At noon, court-appointed attorney Stephen Whalen stood shrouded in a rain coat on 193 Bassett’s front porch with a sign-in sheet for anyone interested in entering a bid on the foreclosed property.

“It’s all locked up,” Whalen said about the property. ​“The owner has not been cooperative.” He added that the owner soon before Saturday’s auction filed a federal lawsuit seeking to stop the foreclosure from moving forward. That may complicate what happens next. Saturday’s auction, nevertheless, would continue.

Whalen told one interested bidder, a man from Waterbury who identified himself as Manuel, that the City of New Haven had entered an opening bid of $86,000. That did not include roughly $23,000 in more recently levied unpaid local property taxes and fines. That latter amount would also be owed by anyone who prevailed at Saturday’s auction.

Manuel told this reporter that he had shown up to the auction for a simple reason: He wanted to be able to buy a house he and his family could live in, and this one on Bassett Street was ​“cheap.”

Well, at least it was before he found out another $23,000-plus in outstanding property taxes is due.

“I know it’s a lot of work” to fix up, Manuel said as he walked around the property’s side and backyards. Maybe it’s more work than it’s worth.

Edwards was the second to sign up to participate in Saturday’s auction, noting his Newhallville roots and interest in investing back in his home neighborhood.

Married couple Chris and Karlyn Duncan, who live nearby in Newhallville, also showed up to Bassett Street Saturday. They didn’t participate. They came to learn how such auctions play out with the hope that they too might someday be able to buy, fix up, and rent out a property in the neighborhood.

“We keep getting outbid,” Chris said. Appraising 193 Bassett’s chipping paint and debris-strewn side yard, he said, ​“it looks a little more than I’m willing to handle.”

A minute after noon, Whalen kicked off the auction, explaining the city’s opening bid and the other outstanding taxes, and asking if anyone would like to try to buy the property.

Manuel entered the first bid of the day: $90,500.

“I’ll ask for a bid of $91,000 or more,” Whalen said. ​“Do I hear a bid of $91,000 or more at this time?”

Edwards raised a sheet of paper bearing his auction number, 2, and said he’d bid $91,000.

“We have a bid of $91,000,” Whalen said. ​“Do I hear a bid of $91,500 or more? Going once. Do I hear a bid of $91,500 or more? Going twice. Last call.”

Hearing none, Whalen asked one more time — and then closed the auction, with Edwards’ $91,000 bid prevailing.

See below for other recent Independent articles about foreclosures.

• Auction Winner Returns — With A Friend
• Family Prevails At Fixer-Upper’s Foreclosure
• Landscaper Cleans Up At Townsend Foreclosure
• Investor Bows Out After Family Plea
• Farnam Founder Tops Foreclosure Auction
• Bank’s Bid Beats Local Buyers
• No Bidders Show For Newhall St. Auction
• Auction Keeps Owner In Neighborhood
• Auction Winner Remembers The Roses
• Homeowner Battles​“Tangled Title” Foreclosure
• Foreclosure Sends Tenants Packing