Side Streets ~ Neighborhood people and issues

Archive for the 'foreclosure' Tag

HOA LANDSCAPE DISPUTE COULD COST FAMILY ITS HOME

December 13th, 2012, 3:01 pm by

Richard and Alisha Cuevas bought this home new in 2005. They may lose it in foreclosure after a dispute with the Northgate Highlands Homeowners Association left them facing $15,000 legal bill and $10,000 in unpaid dues, fines and other fees.

For the third straight Christmas season, Richard and Alisha Cuevas are living away from their Colorado Springs home.

Even worse, because Richard has had to chase jobs around the country, they live apart. He’s in Texas while she and their three kids are anchored in New Mexico.

Meanwhile, their home sits empty in the Northgate Highlands neighborhood on the far north end of Colorado Springs. They say it’s uninhabitable due to construction defects that caused a mold infestation. They are suing the builder, Lennar Colorado, to fix it.

But the main reason the family is gone is because they lost a war with the homeowners association and were hit with fines so steep that Richard Cuevas, 49, had to come out of retirement as an airplane mechanic and find work to cover the bills.

Cuevas said he and his wife intended to raise their children and spend the rest of their lives in the home, which was new when they bought it in 2005. But it hasn’t worked out that way.

His story is a warning to anyone thinking covenants aren’t binding or those threats of daily fines and attorneys fees can’t be enforced and collected.

Richard Cuevas alleges construction defects are causing his house and others to sink. He said windows leak and mold has made the house uninhabitable. He is suing builder Lennar Colorado, which denies the claims but declined comment due to the litigation.

After Cuevas missed an October 2006 deadline to complete the landscaping, the HOA got its attorney involved. The situation escalated and got personal. Besides his alleged construction defects, Cuevas was enduring drainage issues due to natural contours of the neighborhood compounded by the way neighbors graded their yards.

By 2009, Cuevas’ yard remained the only one in the neighborhood with unfinished landscaping as Cuevas tried to force the HOA to intervene with the builder and against his neighbors.

He wanted new windows installed like other neighbors had received. He wanted mold removed from the walls. He insisted the house is sinking and needs its foundation reinforced. Again, he is convinced several neighbors had similar repairs done for free by the builder.

And because he blamed the HOA for not taking up his cause with Lennar, he still refused to complete the landscaping.

“My builder has repaired many homes in the neighborhood but will not do mine,” Cuevas said. “They take care of the HOA board members, but not me.”

Cuevas alleges selective enforcement of covenants by the HOA. He alleges conspiracies. He sees racism by white HOA officials against him, due to his Mexican heritage.

Richard Cuevas alleges poor design and changes to the natural contours made by neighbors grading their yards led to chronic flooding in his yard. He wanted the Northgate Highlands Homeowners Association to intervene and refused to complete his landscaping until his issues were resolved.

The HOA president did not return my calls seeking comment. But I pushed Cuevas to explain why he refused to finish the landscaping, incurring the wrath of the HOA.

Aren’t construction defects an issue between him and Lennar, not the HOA, I asked? The association only polices landscaping and parking and paint colors, right? It’s not a consumer affairs agency, I suggested.

“If everyone in the neighborhood is experiencing the same problems, why won’t the HOA help them out?” he said. “Isn’t that what the HOA is for?”

So years of angry email exchanges and confrontations led Northgate Highlands HOA to sue. And it won an injunction against Cuevas in 2010 and was awarded $15,000 in attorneys fees.

This is a recent statement from the Northgate Highlands Homeowners Association to Richard and Alisha Cuevas detailed the dues, late fees and interested owed on top of the $15,000 in attorneys fees the HOA won in a court case against the family.

The family was given another year to finish the landscaping but it never happened. The HOA put a lien on his house and garnished his wages, collecting about $9,000 to date.

But he still owes thousands more — plus another $10,000 in delinquent HOA dues, daily fines and interest.

And the family is facing foreclosure on the home.

All because Cuevas decided to defy the HOA over the landscaping issue.

The family had a brief reunion last week as their lawsuit against Lennar was argued in a four-day trial in district court. Cuevas brought in experts who testified the house lacked proper flashing and caulking and other defects they said caused mold that was making the family sick.

Lennar brought in its own experts and denied any construction defects.

The case is in the hands of a judge and it could be weeks before a ruling is issued. But that won’t settle the case. I fully expect appeals by either side that loses.

And, meanwhile, Cuevas is back in Texas and his family in New Mexico. He often flies to visit them but hates the living arrangements.

I asked Cuevas if the fight was worth it. Does he wish he’d simply completed the landscaping and focused on his complaint with the builder?

“I did the right thing,” he said. “I pulled my family out. They were all getting sick.”

How it all ends depends on how the lawsuit with Lennar ends. If it ever ends.

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REDEVELOPING VACANT HOUSES, BUILDINGS COULD GET BOOST FROM UTILITIES

November 20th, 2011, 11:31 am by

Chip Landman testifies before the Colorado Springs City Council, sitting in its dual role as the Utilities Board, on Sept. 21, 2011.

In 2006, Chip Landman bought a dilapidated building out of foreclosure and started making plans to restore it — exactly the kind of “infill” development City Hall has promoted for years.

Due to the recession, the building sat until 2009 when Landman learned from Colorado Springs Utilities that it would cost him thousands to reconnect the water and sewer services, which had been shut off when the bank took the property back years earlier.

The huge cost of essentially turning a water valve created what Landman called “a chilling effect on redevelopment of old blighted properties.”

It seems most of the Colorado Springs City Council agree and will consider slashing fees for restoring utility service based on sweeping changes suggested by Utilities staff.

Colorado Springs City Council president Scott Hente

“I’ve heard support for bringing this forward to City Council,” council President Scott Hente told the staff at an Oct. 19 meeting of the council, sitting as the Utilities Board. The council is expected to consider the new fees Dec. 13.

Besides making it cheaper to redevelop commercial property, the proposed fee reductions would apply to residential properties, which have gone into foreclosure by the thousands.

For decades, Utilities didn’t charge to restore utilities unless a property sat disconnected five years or longer. At that point it was deemed abandoned and fees imposed.

In 2006, the codes changed and service was not considered abandoned until 10 years elapsed. Also, Utilities instituted a two-year grace period, after which service restoration fees were imposed. Beginning in 2010, the abandonment period was extended to 20 years.

Dave Munger, president of the Council of Neighbors and Organizations

Under the proposal Utilities proposed, the two-year grace period would grow to five years. And fees would drop. For example, instead of paying about $10,000 to reconnect residential service deemed abandoned, it would be capped at $3,008.

Savings would be even greater for commercial customers. For a 2-inch meter inactive 10 years, reconnection would drop from about $14,000 to about $4,600. And restoring abandoned service would plunge from the current $116,000 to $14,000.

The proposed fee reduction is welcome news to neighborhood activist Dave Munger, president of the Council of Neighbors & Organizations. He said he’s heard many complaints about the fees.

“It’s in everyone’s best interest to figure out ways to encourage infill,” Munger said. “I’m glad to hear Utilities is rethinking its position on reconnection fees.”

Andrew Knauf stands outside his house on West Pikes Peak Avenue. He turned off the utilities in 1993. When he called to get service reconnected about three months ago, he was told it would cost more than $11,000. He is appealing.

It’s unclear if the new fees will help Andrew Knauf, who turned off utilities in 1993 to a house he owns on West Pikes Peak Avenue.

When he tried to restore water and sewer a few months ago, he was told it would cost more than $11,000. He is appealing.

“We’re talking about turning a valve,” Knauf said. “I can’t afford $11,000.”

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ROGUE DEVELOPER LEAVES HOMEOWNERS PAYING HUGE BILLS

August 4th, 2010, 2:00 pm by

Crockett Lane doesn’t look like an outlaw neighborhood. Viewed from the south, it appears to be an idyllic country neighborhood where horses of Brookside Stables mingle amid a barn and cottages.

Looking from the south, Crockett Lane appears to be an idyllic country setting. In truth, it is on the fringe of a rough-around-the-edges neighborhood on East Brookside Street.

Truth is, Crockett Lane is an odd collection of converted sheds and garages plus a couple of homes moved in and a couple historic stone houses situated along a gravel alley behind East Brookside Street and South Corona Avenue.

 Here’s a look at it from FlashEarth.com

It’s a rough-around-the-edges neighborhood. And it’s in transition.

The houses and stables are sandwiched by a new charter school complex and a few businesses near some older, lower-income apartment complexes.

Crockett Lane was cobbled together about 20 years ago by rogue developer Lee Jeffers, a disgraced ex-investment broker who pleaded guilty to securities fraud in 2000.

Jeffers also had an empire of 24 rental properties, mostly on Crockett Lane.

It appears he was as bad a developer as he was an investment broker.

When his properties went into foreclosure and were liquidated in 2007, real estate agents discovered several didn’t  exist in the eyes of Colorado Springs Utilities.

That’s because, on at least five of the houses, Jeffers didn’t pull building permits. He didn’t pay development fees (the cost of tapping into city water mains, sewer lines and power grid). Nor did his houses get inspected.

The view of Crockett Lane from the east end. Many trees have been removed to make way for a new water main and sewer line as well as a power pole to service the neighborhood.

He simply piggy-backed water, sewer and electric service off older, existing houses in the neighborhood. When Utilities discovered the illegal hook-ups, they immediately shut off service.

And Pikes Peak Regional Building Department declared the houses unfit for occupancy. But they waited until the houses had been resold, leaving the new owners to remedy the mess.

The west entrance of Crockett Lane shows the gravel road where a collection of converted sheds and garages and a few new houses were assembled to create a neighborhood.

 Folks like Carol Durell were plunged into a bureaucratic swamp. She and the others learned the houses sat in a floodplain. Long months of negotiations, inspections and fees won a variance.

Then they had to hire an engineer to draw up the existing neighborhood, survey and plat it and design water main and sewer service. Easements were needed. Problems with power poles.

Finally, the owners faced steep development fees – the price of hooking into city water, sewers and power grid. Fees run $11,000 and up for each of the five houses.

Bids to install water and sewer ran upwards of $70,000. But one of the owners, Steve Traylor, agreed to do the work himself, cutting the bill more than half for his neighbors. He hopes to have the houses, south of downtown near Brookside and Corona streets, ready for occupancy in a couple weeks.

“I’m doing everything by the book,” Traylor said.

Neighbor  Durell is thrilled.

“Finally, there’s hope,” she said. “We’ve got a good group working together. We’re going to have a nice little community there.”

I think they should rename their street. Maybe Redemption Lane.

Here’s the first column I wrote about Crockett Lane in 2007 and a second I wrote in 2009. This is a link to a previous blog.

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