Lisa Fitch had just won her first foreclosure auction, but she wasn’t feeling totally happy about it. “I hate kicking people out,” she said. “I don’t like that. I don’t like that.”
Fitch was the sole bidder for the Saturday morning foreclosure auction of the property at 360 Front St.. The local real estate developer won the $240,000 house, which is currently occupied, with a bid of $137,000. She plans to renovate it and turn it into a rental, like her six other properties on Front Street.
Fitch was feeling bad, but Anthony Gore, who lives in the house with his parents, was unfazed by the foreclosure. “We’ll find another place to live,” he said matter-of-factly.
Pre-Auction Jitters
Two minutes before the 11 a.m. opening of bids, Fitch was rocking from foot to foot. “I’ve never done anything like this,” she said, laughing anxiously. “I’m very nervous.”
At 11, presiding attorney Gerald Still (at right in picture) opened the auction and asked Fitch if she’d like to bid.
“Um, may I ask what the bank’s bid is?” she replied tentatively.
Still announced that the bank was bidding $136,767.17.
“Do I hear another bid?” he asked, looking at Fitch.
“OK,” Fitch said, biting her lip. She requested a minute to confer with her husband via cellphone walkie-talkie.
“Should I bid under?” she asked her husband, who runs a construction company and works with Fitch in property management.
“You can’t bid under,” interrupted Still, explaining some basic auction theory: The highest bid takes it.
After a short back-and-forth, Fitch’s husband’s voice crackled over the walkie-talkie, “Well, it’s right there. Might as well do it.”
“That’s kind of how I was feeling,” Fitch said. She stepped forward and bid $137,000.
“Do I hear any other offers?” Still asked, looking up and down the empty street. “Going once, going twice, sold!”
Shrugging It Off
As Fitch and Still moved up the street to fill out paperwork on the tailgate of Fitch’s SUV, a young man, Anthony Gore, emerged from the back door of the house.
Asked about the foreclosure, he shrugged and said, “It was gonna happen sometime.”
“Basically it started back when my mom was a manager at K-Mart,” Gore said, explaining his family’s path to foreclosure. His mom lost her job at K-Mart and then had trouble finding work. The Gore family fell behind on payments and never caught up. They lived in the house (pictured) for 18 years.
Gore is 20 years old and works at Radio Shack. He said that both his mom and dad are now working. He was confident that they would find another place to live.
“Something will work out,” he said.
Post-Auction Jitters
Finishing up her paperwork nearby, Fitch was still dealing with nerves.
“I feel bad” she said, unhappy that her gain had to come at the Gores’ loss. “This isn’t something that I go around doing,” she added. “I feel bad.”
“Maybe we’ll rent it to them,” Fitch said. “They could contact me. We could work something out.” She didn’t mention trying to contact the Gores herself.
Asked if she’d consider buying more houses through foreclosure auction, Fitch exclaimed, “No!”
“It’s very stressful,” she explained. She said that she had bought 360 Front St. only because it was so close to her other properties.
“I like this neighborhood,” Fitch said. “Little by little you make it better. It has a lot to offer.”
Completing the forms, Fitch and Still shook hands. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Still said. “You didn’t need to be nervous! See? I told you!”
“I’m still nervous,” Fitch said, laughing nervously.
Previous Independent coverage of New Haven’s foreclosure crisis:
‚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.