Posted on 12/22/2009 1:12:35 PM PST by Tom Hawks
LAS VEGAS -- A Las Vegas woman says she was the victim of a horrible mistake that left her with an empty condominium and a lot of questions.
Nilly Mauck lived in her condominium for two years and said she never had problem until a series of strange events eventually led to a company coming into her home and throwing away everything she owned.
As Mauck walks around her now empty condo, she can't help but remember how things used to look. Every room in the home is empty and Mauck says the reason is a mistake of address numbers. Her address is 1157, which is right next to 1156, a condo that is in foreclosure.
SLIDESHOW: Pictures from inside the condo before the trash out
A few weeks ago, the foreclosed home was supposed to get locks changed but Mauck says that's not what happened. "I came home to pick up something and there was a note on my door from the Brenkus Team of Keller and Williams Realty stating that they accidentally re-keyed the wrong door," she said.
It was a problem Mauck thought was fixed, until she came home to find a man going into her home. Mauck says everything inside was missing.
She says she later learned her home had been trashed out, a process done to foreclosures where everything left inside is thrown away.
Mauck says she contacted the Brenkus Team. "I said give me $100,000 to $200,000 to replace my things because it will take time and that is being generous. And they said, ‘Ok, that is too much.' She called me that day and told me they were only willing to give me $5,000," she said. "My clothes, my wedding dress, baby pictures, wedding photos, my dishes, my towels, my jewelry, anything you could possibly have in your house. I kept asking them, ‘Where did you take my things because I was ready to go and dumpster dive,' and they had no answer for me."
She is now staying with friends, because she doesn't want to go back to her condo. "I do not feel secure because I know someone has access to my door," she said.
Attorney Michael Joe is a foreclosure specialist with the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada. He says a mishap similar to this happened six years ago when Countrywide emptied a condo belonging to Gerald and Katrina Thitchener in a mistaken foreclosure. "A number of people were sued. Countrywide ended up paying over $1 million in damages in that case," he said.
Joe says proper legal steps and notifications must be followed when homes go into default.
Mauck admits she is behind on her payments, but that doesn't change the fact they got the wrong house. For now, she is getting an attorney as she learns to live with just the clothes on her back.
Realtor Teri Brenkus with the Brenkus Team could not elaborate on the whereabouts of Mauck's belongings, but says they are doing what they can to resolve the matter.
The company hired to remove everything from the condo is Rob and Renea's Home Preservation. They also had no idea where Mauck's belongings are.
If I were the guys that screwed up like that I would have pulled out my checkbook and written a $200K check right there, cause I know she’s gonna get a LOT more than that in the end. She might just end up owning the whole building free and clear.
There’s no indication she was ever behind on her payments. It’s the people next door who were in foreclosure.
Pay up or hang.
I agree with all that has been said but this statement from her strikes me as strange...
“I do not feel secure because I know someone has access to my door,” she said.
How ‘bout changin’ yer locks?
If this is true then everyone involved in this should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and sent to prison. There is NO excuse for this type of mistake.
Yeah right. If there were crime evidence in the place, and the police insisted they produce the goods, they’d know PDQ where all the stuff was.
No kidding! Their legal bills alone are likely to top $200,000 if they actually try to fight this. Any responsible lawyer would charge them for 15 minutes at his/her usual hourly rate, and spend it spelling out to them why they just need to write her a fat check, and get a letter from her saying by accepting the check, she's waiving the right to sue them.
Baby pics and other irreplaceables! I would be tempted to take a shotgun to these morons’ offices!............
Any bets that the really nice stuff is in the homes of the realtors, their associates or their ffiends? Anything not there was likely sold and the money kept.
This is when you allow people to sue the living hell out of a company, and let it make it hurt.
Business Socialists may disagree....but this should not have happened....you cannot be so dumb to foreclose on the wrong property. She should sue until the shareholders of this company quake
So they saying Mauck had no furniture? No food? Only a washing machine, but no dryer? Looks like a nice table leaf, but no table that it slips into? A computer that strangely Mauck didn't keep plugged in?
And my favorite...
Where is the chair that was in this corner. The carpet indentations are still there.
Before trash out, my ASS. More like almost finished with trash out.
From the story “Mauck admits she is behind on her payments, but that doesn’t change the fact they got the wrong house”
Yeah, I know what you mean.
they pawned it
Even if she was foreclosed on, she has the legal right to empty her condo and preserve her possessions.
Hmm. I wonder who changed the locks? Maybe that dude took the furniture.
When I lived in Tucson, Arizona a law enforcement officer had an issue with Toyota over a vehicle he bought and had made all payments on in accordance with the sales agreement. Toyota then stated he owed them more than what the sale called for and sent someone out to repossess the vehicle.
The repo people took his new Ford pick-up instead. The LEO’s wife worked for an attorney who took the case and Toyota ended up paying dearly. Not only for screwing up on the sale agreement that was fulfilled as written by the purchaser of the Toyota vehicle but also for the theft of the Ford truck.
They are also intentional crimes, meaning that you have to do the act with criminal intent. You are civilly liable when you repo the wrong car, or empty the wrong condo, but if you reasonably thought you were authorized to do that act, you aren't criminally responsible.
Here's the chair you were looking for:
And what do you mean no food? Check out the foreground of this picture:
All joking aside, this woman clearly got the sh!t end of the stick.
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