Former ‘Parade’ home now family’s nightmare

[Guest guest]

Former `Parade' home now family's nightmare

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Debbie Gebolys

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

OH

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/news-story.php?

story=dispatch/2006/03/04/20060304-A1-01.html

ERIC ALBRECHT | DISPATCH

Hunt retrieves mail from his New Albany home. Mold forced the

family to move to a Westerville apartment, he said.

A block away from New Albany Country Club in a Parade of Homes

showplace house, something was wrong.

and Hunt came down with asthma. Their two boys were

getting sinus infections. felt burning in her sinuses. And

for a year and a half or longer, she lost her voice.

They couldn't see anything but they could smell it — an odor so

strong in an upstairs bedroom that said it brushed her back

from the doorway.

Then the dog died.

The county has since reappraised the house the Hunts bought for

$690,000: It's worth $200.

Mold, they say, ruined their health and everything they owned.

One day last May, the Hunts walked away. The 5,600-squarefoot house

with two kitchens, five bedrooms, five bathrooms, upstairs and

downstairs laundry rooms and marble and hardwood floors is no longer

their home. The Hunts left behind their clothes and their furniture,

their playthings and the family pictures.

Mr. Hunt said one doctor told them: " Assume your house is burned to

the ground and move out. "

They rented a two-bedroom apartment in Westerville and continued to

make house payments. They consulted doctors, a home inspector, an

industrial hygienist and a forensic architect.

And they called upon the seller and home builder for help.

The Hunts bought the house from the Building Industry Association of

Central Ohio in 1999, a few weeks after it was in the builders'

annual new home show.

It was the BIA's Foundation House, part of a charitable program that

has raised more than $1.5 million for Children's Hospital, COSI, the

Columbus Housing Partnership and others since 1983.

The BIA selected Truberry Group to build the house. Truberry lined

up contractors and suppliers who donated materials to build the

house for a below-market cost. The BIA donated the difference

between the cost to build the house and its sale price to charity.

In nine months of talks, the BIA, Truberry and the Hunts couldn't

agree on what caused the problem or how to fix it. Last fall, the

Hunts sued the BIA and Truberry in lin County Common Pleas

Court, alleging faulty workmanship.

A trial date has been set for the fall.

" I can't sell it, I can't live in it, " Mr. Hunt said. " The best

resolution would be to see the house knocked down, taken off our

hands and we move to a new home somewhere else. "

BIA Executive Director Jim Hilz and Truberry owners and

Shively declined to comment. But in court filings,

Truberry " specifically denies there was any dangerous mold growth "

and says that unidentified things the Hunts did after they bought

the house could be to blame.

Truberry also says the Hunts are coming forward long after their one-

year house warranties expired. The Ohio legislature, however, last

year gave homeowners 10 years to sue for unsafe or defective

workmanship.

Meanwhile, the Hunts convinced at least one impartial observer that

their home is virtually worthless.

Last year, the lin County auditor appraised the property at

$843,100. The Hunts contested. They submitted a doctor's letter, the

forensic architect's report and a copy of the lawsuit.

Appraisers slashed $772,100 from the value of the property.

" There were obviously problems with this house, " said Tony Frissora,

who heads the real estate division of the auditor's office.

The house is now worth $200, appraisers said. The 109-by-167-foot

lot it rests on is worth $70,800, less than half of the value

assigned to identically sized neighboring lots.

In January, Caroline Hunt was born and joined her family at the

cramped Westerville apartment.

" I definitely know how Hurricane Katrina people feel, " Mrs. Hunt

said. " But theirs was an act of God. Ours is an act of negligence. "

dgebolys@...