Likely no one was happier than Carlo Juarbe to find out that the foreclosure of 168 Chatham St. was called off, at the 11th hour.
Juarbe’s daughter is one of two tenants in the well-kept two-family building on a quiet Fair Haven street. And for the past seven yearsthat she’s lived there, she’s been good enough to let her dad keep his beloved Kawasaki Classic in her garage.
The 75-year old Juarbe still regularly rides the bike. However, had the threatened sale gone through on Saturday, there was a good chance his daughter, who likes the area and the landlord, might have been compelled to move. “I don’t have any room to keep the motorcycle where I live,” Juarbe said.
His Kawasaki’s berth was rescued. According to court-appointed attorney handling the foreclosure acution, Nicholas M. Troiano, late Friday afternoon the owner of 168 Chatham, Eddie Perez, was able to work out a payment plan with the Citimortgage Company, of O’Fallon, Missouri, to catch up and to pay off his debt.
With foreclosure costs and interests, an original mortgage of $90,000 had ballooned to $103,682.83. Perez had fallen behind on his payments only this year. He had previously kept up, according to court records, since he signed the note in 2000.
What happened, according to Juarbe, was that tenants on the second floor — his daughter rents the first — stopped paying their rent. “Eddie had to get lawyers on them, and he fell behind in his mortgage because, you know, he didn’t have the revenue.”
Juarbe called Perez an excellent landlord. The house, built in 1915, appeared solid and without visible signs of dilapidation. “Maybe because he fixes things and spends money to make the tenants happy, he ran behind too. But I don’t think so. It was the second floor that didn’t pay. But he worked it out in the last two or three days.”
On Thursday, attorney Troiano received a call from a tenant, not Carlo Juarbe’s daughter. The tenant had mistakenly received Perez’s mail. The letter in question was from the bank.
Troiano said he told the tenant: “Make sure Eddie gets the mail. He did, and it was obviously good news.”
Still, on Friday, at noon, according to Troiano — whose relatives grew up on Ferry Street and where he still frequents nearby Rocco’s Bakery — the bank was prepared to proceed with the foreclosure. It faxed him its opening bid of $103,683, which represented Perez’s debt and the interests and costs. Since the building had been appraised for $260,000 as recently as April, there was equity to protect.
Two hours later, Troiano was in recent of another fax, this one from the bank’s lawyers informing him that “the defendant has been accepted by the plaintiff for a repayment plan.”
What was the plan? “Eddie’s going to pay $200 more a month, but just for a while,” said Juarbe, “until he catches up. Then he, you know, resumes what he was paying. He’s got a good tenant in the second floor now, and everythng’s going to be all right.”
Including storage for the Kawasaki. “I’ll ride it maybe for one more year,” said Juarbe, of the shiny silver and gold machine. He takes the bike all over town, over to West Haven, and as far away as Bridgeport. “Then maybe I’ll sell it, I hope for $2,900. You think I’m too old to ride it?”
“Just wear your helmet,” suggested a reporter.
The happy ending to the non-foreclosure of 168 Chatham is likely an anomaly. On this single weekend in New Haven, there were 12 other foreclosures scheduled, including four more in Fair Haven, on Blatchley, Foxon, and two condominium units at separate locations on Quinnipiac Avenue. Other locations included Maple Street, Hazel, Sherman, County, Read, Congress, and Victory Drive.
This charming little house adjacent to Lewis Park on Lewis Street is set to go on the foreclosure block Sept. 6th, along with, no doubt, many others.
Previous Independent coverage of New Haven’s foreclosure crisis:
‚Ä¢ In Foreclosures, Judge’s Hands Tied
• A House For Precious?
• 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”
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.