PORT ANGELES — A trustee sale at public auction has been scheduled in October for the 230-lot Cedar Ridge subdivision in East Sequim, which was foreclosed upon after the developers defaulted on their loan because of the dramatic real estate slowdown.
The total amount due to lender Union Bank is $4.3 million, according to a trustee sale notice dated July 18.
Rainier Foreclosure Services Inc. operates as the trustee for the bank in Seattle.
The trustee sale, a public auction for the highest and best bidder, is set for 10 a.m. Oct. 21 on the steps of Clallam County Courthouse, 233 E. Fourth St. in Port Angeles.
Union Bank foreclosed on Cedar Ridge’s developers, Alan Grant and Larry Freedman, the latter a Sequim attorney and unsuccessful candidate for county prosecuting attorney, beginning last April.
Citing privacy rules, Alan Gulick, spokesman for Union Bank, declined to comment Monday on aspects of the loans with Cedar Ridge.
Freedman in April said he and Grant tried to work with Union Bank, but to no avail.
“Union Bank refuses to discuss anything with us,” said Freedman.
“The bottom line to it, although we tried to work it out to everybody’s best interests, is they’re not interested.”
Union Bank posted notice on April 5, stating that failure to cure the alleged default within 30 days of the date of mailing of the notice may lead to a notice of trustee sale.
Grant, the partner who created the first phase of the project that includes model homes constructed on Pinehurst Loop within eyeshot of the development’s clubhouse and pond, said the timing of the project was wrong since the real estate industry was in decline.
“Many real estate projects in the area are in trouble,” Grant said. “The value of this project is down.”
Clallam County records show deeds of trust for the development were signed in and after 2006.
Typically, trustee sales are handled by the lender.
Terry Roth, the Port Angeles auctioneer who conducts most of the courthouse trustee sales, said he handles between 12 and 20 foreclosures every Friday.
Roth said after the foreclosure and sale is posted in the newspaper along with the amount of money owed, the auction date is set.
Between 9:30 a.m. and 9:45 a.m., he asks for opening of the bids.
Bidders must show ability to pay by certified check or cash, Roth said.
If there is only one bidder, that bidder can bid $1 more than the asking amount.
“If there is no bidder, it goes back to the bank,” Roth said, adding that the lender then can decide how the property can be sold.
Most foreclosed properties are outsourced to real estate firms to sell.
Roth said since Nov. 1, he has conducted 279 auctions at the courthouse.
In the past 90 days, Roth said, he has conducted 76 sales.
“All but one went back to the bank,” he said. “Those that went back represented $7.5 million that lending institutions took back.”
Grant was the primary developer of the first phase of the subdivision.
A second phase was owned by both Grant and Freedman and planned with larger “estate lots” east of Keeler Road.
Freedman said a 55-lot third phase of small lots that he owned was planned for affordable housing but will not happen.
Cottage homes on 5,000-plus-square-foot lots in the first phase were priced between $69,900 and $79,000, but few have been sold.
The 95-lot first phase was built around a clubhouse and pond.
The clubhouse included a fireside room, a meeting room, a full kitchen, a health club and hot tubs.
Lots in the 85-lot second phase were priced from $59,900 to $199,900 and ranged in size from 9,000 to 43,000 square feet.
The subdivision is accessible via a heavily landscaped and irrigated entrance with a waterfall on Lofgrin Road, stretching from the east end of Washington Street.
Picnic areas and walking paths also were featured as part of the neighborhood plan, complete with deed restrictions.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.