Auction Winner Returns — With A Friend

Three months after prevailing at a West Hills foreclosure auction for a house he had planned to move his family into — but which he now intends to rent or flip — Omar Kh came back to New Haven to help a close friend and fellow New Yorker try to get his own foot in the door of investing in rundown, tax-foreclosed local real estate.

On Saturday midday, Kh stood on the sidewalk outside of the three-family house at 6 Read St. in Newhallville to participate in his second local tax foreclosure auction since April.

That first go around, Kh, who lives in Queens and works for a wholesale food supplier, put in the high bid on a single-story, two-family house on Hilltop Road. He won that 29-round auction after convincing a Waterbury investor with a plea focused on how Kh planned to live in the West Hills foreclosed house with his family. 

On Saturday, Kh showed up to Read Street not to put in his own bids on the tax-foreclosed three-family rental property — but instead to support his friend Mohamad Hamasa, a fellow Queens resident who works for a coffee and bagel wholesaler and whom Kh introduced to the world of New Haven real estate.

If he won Saturday’s auction, Hamasa said soon before the bidding start time at noon, he planned to flip or fix up and rent out the mostly vacant property (which, according to court-appointed attorney Alfred Zullo, may still be home to a squatter).

“I’m trying to get this beautiful,” Hamasa said with a smile about the worn down and mostly abandoned two-and-a-half-story rental.

Kh said that Hamasa’s invest-and-rent-or-flip plans for 6 Read St. are similar to the plans he now has for the tax-foreclosed house on Hilltop Road he paid $107,500 for after the April auction.

“It’s so bad,” he said about that property he had initially planned on moving his family into. ​“It needs a lot of remodeling. Maybe I’ll invest,” or maybe he’ll sell to Hamasa or another investor, who could flip it. 

Kh said he and his family are still renting in Queens, and are still hopeful they’ll be able to move to their own house in New Haven some day. ​“We like New Haven,” he said. But, at least for Saturday, he wasn’t trying to buy the multi-family house up for auction. Instead, he was there to help a friend.

$30K Owed; "No Contingencies Whatsoever"

According to state court records, the City of New Haven first filed a foreclosure lawsuit on 6 Read St. back in January 2022 because of the owner’s failure to pay four years’ worth of local real estate taxes. The court first entered a judgment of foreclosure by sale in October 2022, when it found that the property had nearly had $25,500 in back tax debt.

The property’s owner, a Hamden resident who did not respond to a request for comment by the publication time of this article, wrote in a December 2022 motion to open judgment that she was working to secure funds to ​“renovate and lease 3 apt units which would generate approx $4,000 monthly — more than enough to pay outstanding property taxes.” She asked for two years to get that financing, fix up and rent out the property, and pay off the outstanding taxes. 

The court denied that motion to open and — after the owner filed for bankruptcy in January of this year, and after the city filed an amended complaint in April — the court issued another judgment of foreclosure by sale on May 15, this time finding that the property’s tax debt had climbed to $30,141. The city most recently appraised the property for tax purposes as worth $251,700.

All of which led to Saturday’s foreclosure auction on the sidewalk and pavement in front of 6 Read St. 

Three investors wound up putting in bids on the property over the course of the 8‑minute auction: Hamasa; Martha Kane of Hamden, who planned to fix up and rent out the property with her husband if they prevailed on Saturday; and Bethany-based local landlord Jianchao Xu.

Zullo kicked off the auction at noon, announcing that the city’s opening bid was $43,300 to cover the property’s tax debt and other expenses.

“The property is being sold as is, subject to no contingencies whatsoever,” the court-appointed attorney said. ​“The Committee makes no warranties either expressed or implied concerning the property’s condition, and no adjustments will be made for any defects that may be discovered” after Saturday’s sale.

Hamasa entered the first bid of the day: $45,000.

“$50,000,” Kane replied.

“$55,000,” added Kh, speaking up on behalf of his friend and official bidder, Hamasa.

“$55,500,” said Kane.

Hamasa: “$60,000.”

Kane: “$63,000.”

Kh: “$65,000.”

And up and up the bids went, going nearly two dozen more rounds before Hamasa said, “$117,000.”

Kane looked to her husband Tracy, who was smoking a cigarette nearby. He shook his head slightly. Kane looked back at Zullo and indicated that she wasn’t going to go any further.

That’s when Xu entered his first bid of the auction: ​“Let’s do $118,000,” he said.

“$119,000,” countered Hamasa.

Xu considered the property. Kh urged him to let Hamasa win this one. ​“We leave another one for you,” he joked. Xu agreed, indicated to Zullo that he wouldn’t be bidding any higher on the property, and shook the hands of Kh and Hamasa after letting the latter win.

“I’m happy,” Hamasa said after winning the auction with the high bid of $119,000.

Next up: He’ll close on the property and try to ​“bring [the house] to life again,” either by flipping it or renting it out.

See below for other recent Independent articles about foreclosures.

• 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