Mar 31, 2008 10:12 pm US/Eastern
Developer Blamed For West Deer Sheriff's Sale
WEST DEER (KDKA) ―
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More than three dozen condos in West Deer are up for sheriff's sale at no fault of the owners.
KDKA
The owners of 38 condos in West Deer paid their bills, but they're losing their homes because the developer who built them didn't pay his.
But as we've discovered, it's not the first time.
The Hunt Club housing development features upscale condominiums, and since most people there pay their mortgage and taxes, last week's sheriff's sale notice came as a shock.
All 38 homes are scheduled to be auctioned off June 2 - the largest single sale ever.
"In my 35 years of working in the sheriff's office, I have never seen 38 individual parcels of property go into sale on one judgement," Allegheny County Sheriff Sgt. Rich Firsch said.
At fault is the developer - Links Development Company of Export, Wesmtoreland County, whose office is now vacant.
But according to the county court records, Links owes millions of dollars in back taxes, bad loans and bad debts to dozens of different parties, including those who built the Hunt Club.
If you call the number listed for Links Development, the people who answer the phone disavow any knowledge of the company. The company is owned by Michael Peretto who for months has not returned the calls of condo owners or from the many lawyers who have sued him.
Late last year, the entire Hunt Club fell into foreclosure when Links defaulted on a $2.5 million loan from National City. But the sheriff's sale arises out of another debt owed to the company which excavated the site.
Owed $1 million, the company put liens on the land before anyone moved in, but since the title company never informed the residents about the liens, they're the ones holding the bag.
"They're victims because obviously someone didn't do their homework to see if there was a lien on any of this real estate," Firsch said.
The lawyer for the excavation company said he couldn't get paid by Links or the title search companies so he had no other choice but to go to sheriff's sale.
"I don't want to get into that. I don't want these people's homes, I want paid," Attorney Richard Witchko said.
It's unclear at this point whether the situation will be resolved before it goes to sheriff's sale.
Meanwhile, the sheriff's office is investigating the situation more thoroughly to see whether to refer the case to the US Attorney for investigation by the federal mortgage fraud task force.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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