A foreclosure auction gave no answers for the future of Mountain View Manor Tuesday morning.
No bids came from the 20 people at the auction in the lobby of the county office building in Schoharie and the property remains in the name of Bette J. Forshaw and BFJ Property Associates LLC of Caroga, said an attorney for the mortgage holders.
The bank, Textron Business Credit Inc. of Providence, Rhode Island, directed attorney John D’Amanda of Rochester not to enter a bid for the property.
The property could eventually end up at county auction for non-payment of taxes but that could take another three years since the owner is only a year behind on the taxes, said county Treasurer Bill Cherry.
Mr. D’Amanda said the property still remains in the name of Ms. Forshaw.
“We wanted it sold,” he said. Officials had expected someone to make a bid.
The bank did not want to take ownership of the property, he said.
According to attorney Marvin Parshall Jr., the referee for the auction, it was the first time in 17 years as serving as referees for sales that he had not taken at least one bit.
Both attorneys said it was a very unusual situation and some legal questions still need to be answered.
Mr. D’Amanda said the status of the property had not changed though Ms. Forshaw can no longer make payments on the former home for seniors.
There are several lien holders on the property, Mr. D’Amanda said.
The main building of the property was constructed in 1908 as another in a line of county Alms Houses for the poor.
Little is known about the condition of the inside of the building.
The former Mountain View Manor closed in June 2006 and a representative for the mortgage holders, Textron Business Credit Inc. of Providence, Rhode Island, had no comment on the building.
The 56.42-acre parcel, which includes the main brick building and several outbuildings, was last purchased from Sullok Associates for $1.1 million on December 3, 2002 by BFJ Property Associates LLC of Caroga.
According to Mr. Parshall the original mortgage was $1,050,000. The unpaid mortgage is $1,047,765.75. Because of interest and late charges about $1.4 million is owed on the property.
County records show that the property is assessed for 2007 at $927,070.
It appeared, he said, that the last payment on the property was made around August 1, 2006.
Ms. Forshaw was one of several people arrested in the summer of 2006 as the home was being closed by the state Department of Health for a sprinkler system violation that June.
Ms. Forshaw, then 62, was charged with petty larceny for allegedly taking about $400 from the personal account of one of the occupants of the home, according to the State Police.
In the June 14, 2006 edition of the Times-Journal, the resident medical coordinator for the home said the state DOH was closing the home because of a defective fire sprinkler system.
There were 22 residents and 14 employees at the home when it was closed.
According to a spokesperson from the county district attorney’s office, Ms. Forshaw pled guilty to charges of disorderly conduct on April 25, 2007 and was sentenced to a one year conditional discharge, plus fines and surcharges.