Las Vegas Woman Victim of Foreclosure Mistake
POSTED: DEC 21, 2009 11:08 AM EST
UPDATED: DEC 22, 2009 10:34 AM EST
Nilly Mauck walks around her now empty condo.
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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.
