The “Manning House” saga in HOA2 is a “Bleak House”
VIA SBINSIDER REPORTING |May 11th, 2024
HOA2 has run into an infrequent dilemma which has bewitched the different Boards over the past 10 years, at least. Know by insiders as the “Manning House” it is located at 65796 E Rocky Terrace, Tucson.
Readers of Dickens (there is an excellent BBC series, too) may recall the story Bleak House, in which a legal case consumes the entire estate due to fighting among the heirs having to pay their attorneys for endless court proceedings. Jarndyce v. Jarndyce is the name of the Bleak House lawsuit and HOA2 has the a similar Bleak House mess.
Briefly, the Rocky Terrace house became vacant when the owners passed in 2012, with no apparent directions to anyone on what to do with the house. The Manning’s son at some point, moved in as a squatter, not paying any bills and was eventually evicted.
Prior boards had tried to deal with HUD but were rejected because they had no ownership in the property. Meanwhile the neighbors raised a stink as to the deterioration of the house and the effect on their home values.
In April 2023, the HOA2 board took legal action and foreclosed on HOA liens with a Sheriff’s sale. So, now the association has title to the house.
The dilemma is what do next. The rundown value of the home is estimated to be less than the HUD mortgage and needs extensive repairs to make it sale ready. It seems that it would be in HUD’s interest to negotiate a lowering of the debt so that the house can be repaired and made market ready. The HOA Board has been in contact with Juan Ciscomani’s office to intercede with HUD.
According to an email recently from Mark Schatz, HOA2 Treasurer to a homeowner in answer to a resident Mr. Schatz wrote:
The Board after much pressure has finally decided we must make a more significant investment to repair the outside of the home. Hence the issue being mentioned at the last board meeting. Given the uniqueness of the situation, no decision had been made at the time exactly where the funds would come from. This decision will be made shortly. The money must be spent regardless of what budget it comes from.
The HOA does not accept any liability by owning the home. The HUD mortgage is with the previous dead owners not the HOA. The home is the collateral for that mortgage hence the HUD lien. The Zillow estimated value is not based on the home’s condition. It is solely based on similar properties. No one would pay anything for it today given HUD’s lien. If someone would buy it we would gladly sell it.
SBINSIDER will monitor this “Bleak House” story and update our thousands of loyal readers.
