Trumbull's Curtiss House Foreclosed No Longer

In this quiet and historic area of Trumbull, known as Nichols, the saga surrounding the former Curtiss homestead continues with no immediate end in sight.

The most recent owner was Denise Garrison, who purchased the home with the most recent private appaisal - according to records at -- at $517,000. She bought the house prior to the real estate bubble in 1995 for $196,000.

In 2009, Chase Home Finance brought foreclosure by sale proceedings on the property, which had been scheduled and noticed for auction in April. Recent court documents show that the auction did not proceed, with attorney Athan Mihalakos of the Bridgeport firm Willinger, Willinger & Bucci, presiding over the sale.

On the morning of the auction, multiple interested parties waited in the pouring rain, Easter weekend, in front of the locked property located at 2950 Nichols Ave., but to no avail as no auctioneer or officers of the court arrived in time for the 10 a.m. public inspection which was to occur two hours prior to the commencement of the proceedings.

A motion was filed with Bridgeport Superior Court on April 15 to open the file and extend the sale. Sources close to the case suggested that this was a normal course of action in real property civil cases and could have occured resulting from questions over the appraisal value.

A foreclosure by sale is an option that banks may use when they make the business decision to call in the mortgage note, if the equity in the home and its value exceeds the debt owed.

A judgement to open and vacate a foreclosure by sale occured on the June 14 and was issued by the Honorable William Rush, judge of the Civil Division, with the last action being a notice to all parties on the June 17.

A July 23 auction has been postponed again and the Bucci firm is no longer handling the case, Mihalakos said.

"This could be for a variety of reasons, including that the property may have been redeemed," he said.

A conference has been scheduled for Oct. 28 at 10 a.m. in Bridgeport Superior Court.

Hunt Leibert Jackson PC of Hartford is representing Chase Bank and Attorney David G. Volman of Shelton is representing Garrison. 

The Zachariah Curtiss home is an historic property built between 1721 and finished in 1776 and is a colonial american style wooden post and beam timber farm house.

Nichols Avenue at the time was referred to as Farm Highway as it connected Stratford township to the farmland to the north that was named subsequently Long Hill, North Stratford and then, after the end of the Revolutionary War, Trumbull.

Its appraised value in 1746 was 1,050£.

Neither Chase Home Finance, nor the Clerk of the Superior Court has responded to calls and emails seeking information and comment. Mortgages are recorded on deeds at Town Hall until the debt on the loan is paid and accordingly banks own the majority stake in a property until that debt is redeemed.

There is no legal requirement for banks to proceed with forcelosure proceedings, especially in economic downturns, as the cost of legal proceedings and the termination of the contractual obligation results in the potential of lower interest accumulated from the loan.

Most banks use industry standards to determine their risk ratio in formulating their business decisions.

Garrison has vacated the property and her phone line has been disconnected, thus the property remains empty and barren. Neighbors have spotted landscapers keeping up the appearance of the lawn and maintaining the property.