Noel Sims photo
At 302 Exchange St. during auction.
Markeshia Ricks File Photo
Wilson Reyes.
When Wilson Reyes looked at the bed of roses beyond the porch of 302 Exchange St., he thought back to the Fair Haven he grew up in half a century ago — and he remembered how flowers stood in that very same spot even then.
At a foreclosure auction for that now-empty house, Reyes put in the highest — and only — bid, with the goal of reviving that small slice of the neighborhood he has long called home.
Reyes, a longtime local investor and business owner, was the only bidder present for the foreclosure auction, which took place Saturday at noon for the Exchange Street house and its rose garden. According to court records, the previous owners of the house defaulted on their loans in 2019. The foreclosure auction was delayed because of the pandemic.
While Reyes and the attorney overseeing the sale, Ruben Acosta, waited for any latecomers who might want to bid on the house, they reminisced about the neighborhood.
Attorney Acosta and Wilson Reyes.
Much is different from the time when Reyes was growing up. He said that many of these changes begin with auctions just like this one. Unlike on Saturday, he said, foreclosure auctions in Fair Haven are often attended by representatives from wealthy investors from out of town. They are usually the ones who put in the highest bids.
Reyes lamented that the many properties being bought up by such investors end up dilapidated and too expensive for Fair Haveners to afford. He said that investors come in because “the money is here,” said Reyes. “The rents are unbelievable.”
The high rents are pushing many longtime Fair Haven residents out of the neighborhood. Reyes tries to keep rents low for his tenants so that residents like him, who have made Fair Haven their home, can stay.
Investors, he said as he pointed to a more run-down home next door that was purchased by New York-based Shelton Ventures LLC in 2021, do not put the same level of care into a home that someone who lives in the neighborhood and knows the tenants would.
“They don’t give a hoot about these houses,” said Reyes of the investors. “And it’s killing us.”
Reyes said he plans to fix up his new property, won on Saturday for $198,500, and rent it at a price that Fair Haveners can afford.
As Reyes stood at the corner lot, he remembered what the block had looked like when he was growing up.
The neighborhood had been predominantly Italian then. Fig trees were planted along the streets, fresh tomatoes and grapes grew around the houses, and many families made their own wine from their gardens.
The four corners at the intersection of Exchange and Lloyd were occupied by two grocery stores, a bar, and the home that will now belong to Reyes, which he remembered belonging to a family with the last name Rodriguez when he was young.
On the other end of the block, Reyes pointed out a row of houses that the Crisante family had owned. “They put on the biggest fireworks show in Fair Haven. Every year, they would close off the whole block.” Reyes laughed as he said, “It actually became kind of a headache.”
Across the street from the Rodriguez family, Reyes’s mother lived for 30 years on the first floor of 309 Exchange St., where she grew sunflowers and fed rice and beans to a flock of birds that arrived at the house every day at 2:30 p.m.
Reyes’s mother was known as “a mom to the whole neighborhood,” he said. People would walk with her back from her church a few blocks away and she would feed them.
As Reyes talked about his mother, Acosta told him, “It makes sense, everything you do for the neighborhood, knowing about your mom.” Acosta remembered meeting Reyes’s mother a few times before she passed away.
Reyes remains as connected with the Fair Haven of today as he and his mother were years ago.
In between discussing memories of Fair Haven and the ever-encroaching investors with Acosta, Reyes chatted with passersby that he knew, asking “How ya doin’, baby?” to several drivers that stopped when they saw him outside.
He previously owned Bookie’s Café, a bar in the neighborhood, and now runs Porky’s Bail Bonds and owns several rental properties.
Reyes hopes to help “build Fair Haven up again.” He hopes to help this community grow stronger and bring back some of the beauty he remembers from his youth.
When asked why he wanted to buy the house at 302 Exchange specifically, he said, “Why not? Every house has a foundation that you can build something beautiful on. And if you give someone a beautiful home, they will keep it nice and it will make their lives better.”