For a Winthrop Avenue couple struggling to keep their home, losing it to the bank was the best they could hope for from a foreclosure auction.
“There’s still potential for a happy ending,” said Attorney Nicholas Troiano after the bank won the 11 a.m. foreclosure auction Saturday of the small single-family house at 83 Winthrop Ave. The homeowners (the house is listed under the name of Maria Huerta) are engaged in a new state-run foreclosure mediation program to try to figure out how to keep their house. The fact that their home was not won by an outside buyer means that there’s more of a chance that they can hold onto it.
Mediation
Just before 11 a.m. Saturday, Troiano was parked in front of 83 Winthrop, taking shelter from the drizzling rain inside his grey Saab while he waited to see if any bidders would show. There was an American flag rolled up on a pole between the two front seats. Troiano was on his way to a party for his stepson, who has just joined the National Guard.
“This is an interesting one,” said Troiano, who has been the overseeing attorney for a number of New Haven foreclosure auctions (including this one). Troiano explained that the foreclosure was in the middle of a mediation process under Connecticut’s Foreclosure Mediation Program (FMP).
“This is the first time I’ve ever been involved with it,” Troiano said of the program. “It’s relatively new.”
The FMP, which began in July of this year, is designed to assist homeowners going through foreclosures. They are given the option of meeting with the foreclosure plaintiff’s attorney and a mediator to try to come to a negotiated agreement acceptable to all parties.
In the case of 83 Winthrop, as in many other recent New Haven foreclosures, the plaintiff is Deutsche Bank. On Sept. 12, the court introduced a 60-day mediation process between Maria Huerta and Deutsche Bank’s attorney. On Friday, Troiano took part in the first mediation meeting.
Troiano said that the homeowners are a young Spanish-speaking couple with a new baby. They fell behind in their mortgage payments when the mother went on maternity leave and the father lost his job.
Ideally, Troiano explained, the mediation meeting would have resulted in a plan to start paying down the mortgage, keeping the family in their home. “If the family was already capable of paying off the mortgage or reinstating payments then the mediator would’ve instructed the plaintiff attorney to reopen the matter and call off the auction,” Troiano said. “But that wasn’t the case.”
The family is still working with the mediator and has until Nov. 12 to come up with a solution, Troaino said. In the meantime, the auction went forward as planned.
Auction
At 11 a.m. Akbar Dar of Bethany pulled up with his son Aziz. Troiano got out of his car and removed the foreclosure sign with a hammer. He met with Dar on the porch of 83 Winthrop as the rain continued to fall.
“Are you prepared to do any bidding?” asked Troiano.
“If it’s more than $110,000, No.” said Dar.
Troiano announced that the bank’s bid was $116,476.39. Dar was not willing to pay that much for the house.
“It’s a 100-year-old home,” said Dar. He added that the property was “on the edge of where I would go” to purchase a house. “Do you know what it’s like in there?” he asked gesturing east, toward the Hill. “There are gun battles going on every night. It’s a very bad neighborhood.”
Dar said he was looking for a house to invest in as a rental property. He had seen the foreclosure sign at 83 Winthrop while driving by recently. Saturday morning was Dar’s first foreclosure auction; he said he might be taking part in more. “I’m going to start looking. I wouldn’t mind getting a small building.”
Hope
“There’s still potential for a happy ending,” Troiano said, as Akbar and Aziz walked away. Troiano explained that it was good for the homeowners that no outside bidder had won the auction. The foreclosure was still just between the bank and the homeowners, which would simplify the mediation process and perhaps give the bank incentive to cut a deal. “The bank may want to come down a little bit,” he speculated.
Asked if the Friday mediation meeting had given him a greater sense of empathy for the homeowners, Troiano replied, “Yes, definitely.”
“Once I saw they were a family trying to make it, that changes the picture,” he added.
Previous Independent coverage of New Haven’s foreclosure crisis:
‚Ä¢ “So Don’t Worry About Pablo”
• Next-Door Foreclosures, 53 Years Apart
• They Met On Foreclosure Way
• Little Garage Draws Big Bids
• A 2nd Chance on Lewis Street
‚Ä¢ Foreclosure Attracts New Breed of “Specialist”
‚Ä¢ 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
‚Ä¢ 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.
‚Ä¢ After Foreclosure, W’ville Owner Still Hopes To Sell
‚Ä¢ He’s Not Buying, Yet
• Quiet Foreclosure on Porter Street
• 3 Minutes Too Late
• Historic Gambardella Property Foreclosed
•2 Homes Lost, 1 Gained
‚Ä¢ “Everybody’s Got To Eat”
• More Foreclosures, More Signs
‚Ä¢ Foreclosure Sale Benefits Archie Moore’s
• Rescue Squad Swings Into Action
• A Bidder Shows Up
‚Ä¢ Bank Beats Tanya’s Bid
• Westville Auction Draws A Crowd
• DeStefano: Foreclosure Plan Ready
• Can They Help?
‚Ä¢ “We Should Over-Regulate These Bastards”
• Rosa Hears of Rescues
• WPCA Grilled on Foreclosures
‚Ä¢ WPCA’s Targets Struggle To Dig Out
• Sue The Subprimers?
• WPCA Hearing Delayed
‚Ä¢ 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
‚Ä¢ Renters Caught In Foreclosure King’s Fall
‚Ä¢ She’s One Of 1,150 In The Foreclosure Mill
‚Ä¢ Foreclosures Threaten Perrotti’s Empire
‚Ä¢“I’m Not Going To Lay Down And Let Them Take My House”
‚Ä¢ 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.