Sea Pines residents angry rat-infested house once worth $725K is now listed at this price

Six months have passed since the abandoned Sea Pines house once valued at nearly $725,000 sold in a foreclosure sale for just $125,000.

Now the 3,000-square-foot Hilton Head house is back on the market — and still causing the same “outrageous” problems for neighbors, according to Association of Sea Pines Plantation Property Owners director Richard Matthews.

Neighbors say the firms tasked with repairing the house before its foreclosure missed deadline after deadline, and now they’re worried that potential buyers aren’t seeing the whole picture when it’s listed at $392,800 on home-buying websites like Zillow or Hubzu.

The listing doesn’t show the rotting siding with holes that lets rodents run wild in the four-bedroom house, a roof that was repaired after water leaked in for nearly two years after Hurricane Matthew or the crumbling edges of the pool in the backyard, said neighbor Dana Guazzo.

The house at 40 Sand Fiddler Road was in foreclosure for eight years, according to Beaufort County property records. County records also show it was worth $724,996 in 2010, but the market value was listed as $502,900 in 2018.

After it sold in May, Guazzo said she saw inspectors parade in and out of the house to determine its safety on behalf of its owner, the Bank of New York Mellon.

“They know exactly what’s wrong,” Guazzo said. “They don’t want to put any work into it.”

The house that triggered a committee on Sea Pines land use

Guazzo said Sea Pines formed a committee in response to the neglected house on Sand Fiddler Road — the Land Use Management Committee.

She volunteers on the committee, which reaches out to property owners who aren’t adhering to Sea Pines covenants regarding home appearance.

Several letters from Sea Pines Community Services Associates to the Bank of New York Mellon went unanswered, according to Matthews, the co-chair of the committee.

“It’s an outrageous situation,” Matthews said. ”We continue to communicate with the Bank of New York Mellon in an effort to get the property compliant with our codes ... we’re getting absolutely no help from (them).”

The bank is a trustee of the property and does not have any say in how the property is disposed, a spokesperson for Bank of New York Mellon, said Wednesday in a statement to the Island Packet.

“As trustee, The Bank of New York Mellon does not have the authority to modify, foreclose on, or make decisions related to the mortgage loan – such decisions fall solely under the authority of the servicer,” the statement said.

For the home on Sand Fiddler Road, that loan servicer is Florida-based mortgage lending firm, Ocwen.

Will it sell for $392K?

GeorgeAnn Salerno, another neighbor, said the price of the new listing concerns her. She called the house “a mess,” and said the asking prices she’s seen are well over what the house is worth.

Guazzo said the lot might as well be empty, because a buyer would “be better off tearing the whole house down” on a street where the nearest lot, which is empty, is listed for $231,500. A four-bedroom home down the street is listed for $875,000 on Zillow.

Paul Arterbury, the listing agent for the house, did not return multiple requests for comment on how the asking price was determined. The price was lowered on Tuesday, according to the house’s Zillow listing, by $31,300.

The online listing features a few blurry photos of the interior where buyers may be able to make out water damage on the ceilings and mold in the corners.

“The house is falling apart inside,” Guazzo said.

She said the abandoned house lowers the property values of neighboring properties and “frightens” parents with children who could wander into the unsealed building.

Matthews said one of his concerns is with animals that may inhabit the house. He said rats and insects that live in the empty house could bring disease to neighbors.

Guazzo said she’s seen rats come in and out of the house, and alligators drawn to the pools of water in the unkempt yard.

What’s next?

Now that the house is back on the market, Salerno said neighbors are waiting for it to sell so they can be done with it.

But Guazzo said the committee’s involvement with the property won’t be successful until the house is “completely remediated or someone buys it and takes care of the problems.”

She said she worries that the owner won’t inform potential buyers of the house’s issues, which they’re legally required to do.

“We will take them to court,” Guazzo said of the committee’s ability to enforce covenants that protect neighbors from unsightly or unsafe homes. “And we are completely prepared to do that.”

Matthews said he doesn’t know what the committee could do about the house, but that the group is “engaged with counsel right now to find out what we can do (legally).”

This story was updated on Wednesday to include information from the Bank of New York Mellon. At the time of original publication of this article, Bank of New York Mellon had not returned several requests for comment.

This story was originally published November 27, 2018 at 6:17 PM.