Mohammed Amro of Amro's Properties Inc., informally known in the NoMi blogosphere as "Mr. Slummy," has been served with foreclosure papers on 2515 3rd Street North. A brief s(l)ummary of this property, as well as what specifically led to the foreclosure filing can be found at the Johnny Northside post "Mr. Slummy Owes Some Money."
As to the papers now posted at the property, a sheriff's sale is now scheduled for November 9, 2011. Amro contracted out tens of thousands of dollars' worth of work to Siwek Lumber & Millwork, but has not paid them for work performed. So Siwek responded with a judgment, demanding among other things...
...a mechanic's lien placed upon the property.
The key here is "among other things." Neighbors have long suspected that Amro had abandoned all hopes of building his intended multi-unit property on this site. (And by the way, in spite of this blog's prominently displayed Hofstede Staff Timer, CM Hofstede does deserve credit for a swift response, coordinated with inspections and regulatory services.) The next question the community had is what would become of the structure? Clearly it's not going to be built out as it stands.
Siwek's judgment started with a payment arrangement of $32,000, broken up into $1,000 monthly sums. Amro agreed or was ordered to make those payments beginning in April of 2011. Siwek's claims that no payments were made at all. The judgment then expanded to over $53,000 with legal fees and other charges, whereas the real property at 2515 3rd Street North likely has a negative value. Demolition of this scope will easily outstrip whatever land value the site holds.
This is clearly not Siwek's first rodeo. They obtained liens against Amro's Chevy Silverado Truck and his Mercedes 430. The judge's ruling orders Amro to turn over title to these vehicles as well. Although who knows? Maybe Amro tried to weld pieces onto his truck in an attempt to convert it into an eighteen-wheeler that is no longer fit to be on the road.
Much like when Paul Koenig was discovered stiffing his contractors, I felt an initial pang of sympathy towards Siwek's. In this case though, the scope of work was so clearly beyond what code and zoning allowed for. These guys needed to do their homework before winding up knee-deep in a slumlord's hole to China. One look at the place and these guys really should have known what they were getting into.
With the closure of the ReUse Centers it will become harder for Poverty Pimps to find inexpensive non-compatible materials to shore up these cheap investments. I guess Siwek's is stepping into this void by supplying them with not so cheap crap that barely passes code.
ReplyDeleteThis news had me cheering louder than I did this morning in the chow hall, watching the final 1:12 of the Michigan versus Notre Dame game.
ReplyDeleteWonder if Siwek's will get there 20 or so toilets back? Will they even want them back?
ReplyDeleteWell probably--hopefully--those toilets have never been used. In fact, prior to boarding up the place, plenty of fixtures could be seen that hadn't even been removed from the wrapping. If those are still there, then they've got to be worth more than the (former) house itself.
ReplyDeleteI would like to clarify a few things in these posts. Siwek Lumber sold materials only and did not perform any work at the properties on 3rd St and did not sell any toilets or plumbing to him.
ReplyDeleteMr. Amro has purchased well over $80,000 from us over the last 3 years on 7-8 properties and has paid for all of it, not including the balance due on 3rd St properties. Nearly all of the items purchased by Amro was top-grade construction lumber, manufactured trusses and high-quality windows by Vinylite. Any questions, please feel free to contact me directly, Tom Siwek, tom@siweklumber.com
Another nomi homie chiming in about Siwek's.
ReplyDeleteSiwek's is a great place to purchase the lumber and other materials for our beloved old homes in Nomi. They don't do work. They sell materials. They don't go to sites before hand to see if the materials are going to be reasonably within a scope. Just like Best Buy doesn't come to your living room to see if your tv will fit, or if the surround sound will be too loud.
I didn't pay much attention to this blog post before Mr. Siwek's comment appeared, but now in reading it I see you've made it out to be as if Siwek's was some kind of subcontractor. A simple 5 second google search done by the blog author would have revealed that is not the case. I think this blog post needs to be majorly revised because as it is written now it's almost defamatory but mostly makes the blogger look like a moron. Just sayin'.
I appreciate the clarification and apologize for my initial mistake in regards to Siwek's role in the (attempted) rehab, lack of payments, and foreclosure process. I was overly exuberant about the consequences to Mr. Slummy and didn't look into the issue deeply enough, although I do think my assumptions were reasonable enough at the time.
ReplyDelete(The windows though...I have to disagree about their level of quality.)
I have no intention of changing the post. I'd rather keep misstatements as initially published whenever possible. It adds to the transparency I aspire to on my blog, and that means not shying away from times when I might not get things entirely correct.
Furthermore, the comment section has the accurate information clearly and succinctly laid out, directly from a first-party source. Altering the content of the post makes it unclear what Tom Siwek was responding to.