Ohio bank sues home builder
A new lawsuit and foreclosure proceedings by Ohio Savings Bank may put an end to the dreams of buyers still hoping home builder Turner-Dunn would find a way to finish as many as 200 homes left withering in the Arizona summer sun.

Ohio bank sues home builder

The properties are expected to be auctioned off in three large parcels in mid-November at the county's Superior Court courthouse, according to filings by Ohio Savings. It's unclear what happens to those who signed contracts or paid earnest money. Buyers who have already closed on their new homes in these developments are not expected to be affected by the lawsuit or auction.

Peter Rathwell, an attorney with Phoenix-based Snell & Wilmer LLP specializing in bankruptcies and collections who isn't involved with the case, said in cases such as this the buyers occasionally can still get the homes if they are close to completion and banks or whoever buys the land at auction are agreeable to working something out, but it's rare.

"It's possible if all the stars align," Rathwell said. "But I wouldn't want to give anyone a false hope."

Steve Potterf drives daily by the home he had hoped to move into months ago in Maricopa. It is only some paint and a driveway away from being finished, but the foreclosure and auction may be the end of his new-home dreams.

"I just feel helpless," Potterf said. "I feel like a rag doll that's been pulled this way and that way by Marc Dunn."

Potterf said he still wants the house, or he wants his $5,000 in earnest money back. He'll probably begin a new home search soon, but new-home prices in Pinal County have risen steeply since Potterf signed the Turner-Dunn contract, and he can't afford much more than his $260,000 sales contract.

Dunn didn't return phone messages left at his office. Former company President Louis Turner has said he left the company a year ago when things were going well and can't explain what happened.

Brian and Danielle Serna are suing Turner-Dunn in Pinal County Superior Court in an attempt to recover at least $5,000 in earnest money and $1,500 in mortgage fees.

They signed a sales contract in April 2005, sold their Queen Creek home and have waited through numerous construction extensions for their new home.

"They're in a state of limbo," said their Casa Grande attorney, David McCarville. "As time goes by, they're less and less likely to ever move in."

Their long-shot hope is that somehow they can obtain the property and finish the home on their own.

Broker Sandra Gesberg of Tony Cox and Associates has been helping Turner-Dunn buyers like Verna Rogers and Tony Tellez find new homes. Pinal County's cooling housing market is packed with completed spec homes sitting empty.


At a time when builders are offering lucrative double-digit incentives to brokers who bring them buyers, Gesberg is knocking percentage points off her own commission to help get these individuals into a new home.

Rogers, a Phoenix corporate procurement officer, had been waiting since May 2005 for her Turner-Dunn home after getting the top slot in a housing lottery. She met with Gesberg on a Friday and days later signed a sales contract for a bigger house with Fulton Homes with upgrades at a similar price.

Still waiting after 18 months, Tellez was happy to get Gesberg's help. He, his wife and their three children have been sleeping for weeks on a friend's living room floor.

"What she's doing is almost angelic," said Tellez, who will close soon on a new home with the help of Gesberg.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0810biz-Dunnfolo0810.html