Purchaser Of $2.6 Million Home At Foreclosure Sale Experiences Rude Surprise

(last revised 9-3-07)
North Jersey.com (The Bergen County Record) reports:

• "Animal welfare workers are still trying to capture 20 cats who are hiding in a feces-strewn Saddle River [New Jersey] home where 23 dead animals and 68 sickly cats and dogs were removed yesterday. [...] Tyco [Animal Control] staff clad in gloves and long boots are setting up traps to get the remaining 20 cats out of the house. Some are hiding behind a kitchen stove, while others are in the walls. The house ... was condemned by borough officials late yesterday, less than a week after it was sold for $2.6 million to the [former owners'] next-door neighbor at a foreclosure sale. Its size and two-acre lot helped prevent neighbors from noticing the problem ... ."

Anyone interested in adopting the surviving animals can call the Humane Society of Bergen County at 201-896-9300.

For more, see 20 cats hiding near Saddle River home.

For story updates, see:

• Couple loses bid to regain seized dogs (The Record - 9-27-07),
• Cat Count Up To 142 At NJ Mansion Bought At Foreclosure Sale For $2.6M (Bergen Record - 9-2-07)
• Bid Was Blind for a House Full of Needy Cats and Dogs (The New York Times - 8-29-07)
• Feces-soiled Mansion Sickens New Owner (Inside Edition - 8-27-07) - reports that the home is so contaminated, it may have to be torn down - (no longer available online),
• Neighbor never saw 'disgusting' interior (Bergen Record - 8-25-07),
• Watch WCBS-TV Channel 2 report,
• Cruelty charges in Saddle River (Animal cruelty charges have been filed against Cynthia and Philip Tamis, the couple who kept 23 dead dogs and cats in the multi-car garage of their seven-bedroom Saddle River, NJ home; (no longer available online)),
• Pet Cruelty Accusations Startle Upscale Enclave (The New York Times)
• It's a new day for Saddle River's neglected cats (8-21-07 - NorthJersey.com)

Go here for more on pets and foreclosures.

$2.6 Million NJ "Cat House" Foreclosure Sale Voided; "Duped" Buyer To Get Back Deposit

(revised 9-14-07)
The Bergen Record reports:

• "The restaurateur who bought a Saddle River [New Jersey] home just days before 150 cats were found to be living there in filth will be allowed to back out of the sale, a Superior Court judge ruled Friday. Michael Acciardi, 47, agreed to pay $2.6 million for the 20-room house on Burning Hollow Road at a sheriff's sale on Aug. 10. Four days later, authorities acting on a tip from a DHL courier rescued the first of the cats -- and six dogs -- that were found roaming the interior of the house, which was strewn with pet food and animal feces. [...] Presiding Chancery Court Judge Peter E. Doyne ... cit[ed] a report from a Union City claims adjuster that estimated the total repair bill at $2.25 million. Doyne approved Acciardi's petition to be relieved from his obligation to buy the house. Acciardi said the bank wanted to keep his security money of $420,000 for the $2.6 million sale. Instead, he said, it has to give him his money back within five days."

The quote of the day, from Michael Acciardi, "I'm pretty well versed at buying and selling homes ... but this was a case of total surprise and shock. It's somewhat of a lesson. Hopefully people can learn from the mistake that I've made."

(The lesson I think Mr. Acciardi is referring to here is very simple - and is something I intimated at in my August 26 post: If you have the right money, and you have the right attorney, and you get the right judge, anything is possible in court. Congratulations to Michael Acciardi.)

No word on whether the mortgage lender will appeal the decision. For more, see Cat squalor voids sale of house.

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See also, Case of Pet-Ridden House Nudges Law on Setting Aside Foreclosure Sales.

Go here for other posts and links relating to the Saddle River Cat House.
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Editorial Note:

If there is anybody out there who has a digitized copy of the judge's ruling in this case, and wishes to share it with the world, I'll gladly make it available online. It is something that I'm sure that many of the readers of this blog might find interesting. I can be reached at HomeEquityTheft@yahoo.com.

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In conclusion, I will point out that this case, even if it's not considered binding precedent under New Jersey law for others seeking to void a real estate transaction, should be of considerable interest to attorneys representing financially strapped New Jersey homeowners who find themselves caught up in foreclosure rescue scams and go to court seeking to void a transaction based on equitable grounds, which was done here.

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After all, if someone with the apparent business and financial sophistication of Michael Acciardi, who by his own admission, "is pretty well versed at buying and selling homes," can get a real estate transaction like this one voided based on equitable grounds, a financially strapped homeowner with little or no business or financial sophistication and who is in the process of getting his/her home equity ripped off in a foreclosure rescue scam should, at least in theory, find it equally as easy to void the foreclosure rescue transaction.

Never Buy At A Foreclosure Or Trustees' Sale (Unless You Know What You're Doing) - Part 2

In an earlier post, I referred to a media report describing the experience of a naive, young Ohio couple with absolutely no clue of what they were doing who went to a foreclosure sale and were the winning bidders on what they thought was going to be the home of their dreams (see New home turns into a Catch-22).

Now comes forward restauranteur Michael Acciardi, 47, of Saddle River, New Jersey who finds himself in a similar predicament. He's the guy (referred to in an earlier post) who bought the home next door to his at a foreclosure sale for $2.6 million before authorities found nearly two dozen dead cats and dogs, more than 100 live cats and mounds of feces inside (see Purchaser Of $2.6 Million Home At Foreclosure Sale Experiences Rude Surprise).

According to a story in The Bergen Record, Mr. Acciardi announced last Friday that he's now trying to back out of the deal. Reportedly, he said, "These are extenuating circumstances and I need to be relieved of this sale. [...] I'm not going to lay down on this. [...] I should have been told." He described the scene inside the home as an "atrocity" and said his attorney has filed to "unravel the sale."

I wish Mr. Acciardi luck in his attempt to get a judge to relieve him of the mess he got himself into. I suspect that Acciardi, an apparently successful businessman, will have great difficulty convincing a judge that he was a "poor, financially unsophisticated dupe" who was somehow "pressured" or "conned" into going to a foreclosure sale and buying a house for $2.6 million, thereby deserving some form of equitable relief from a court. On the other hand, given that Acciardi is a local resident who is apparently financially well-off, anything is possible in court if you have the right lawyer and get the right judge.

For the story, see Neighbor never saw 'disgusting' interior. See also:

• $2.6M Pig In A Poke (New York Post),
• Feces-soiled Mansion Sickens New Owner (Inside Edition) - reports that the home is so contaminated, it may have to be torn down - (no longer available online),
• Go here for other posts on this story.

Cat Count Up To 142 At NJ Mansion Bought At Foreclosure Sale For $2.6M

(revised 9-3-07)
In a story that still has legs, the Bergen Record reports:

• "Animal control officials continue to extract cats from a borough home where scores of roaming felines and the carcasses of 23 dead and bagged dogs and cats were found more than two weeks ago. "We still have cats in there," said Carol Tyler of Tyco Professional Animal Control in Midland Park, where most of the cats have been sheltered. 'There are at least four that we've seen, and there may be more. We're up to a count of 142 that were in the house so far.' [...] The home was in foreclosure and had been bought by restaurateur Michael Acciardi, 47, who lives next door and has said he bought it for $2.6 million without seeing the interior. He said he did not get a look at the inside until Aug. 23 after he returned from vacation and immediately said he wanted to cancel the deal."

For more, see Officers discover more cats hiding in Saddle River home.

Go here for other posts and links to online reports on this story.

Go here for a picture of the front of what is reportedly the $2.6 million mansion.