NOTE: This story was updated on March 3, 2022 with statements from court documents filed by Marcia Campbell and her attorney.
A New Rochelle handyman says he turned to a client to help save his house from foreclosure, only to lose his home in an elaborate scheme.
Felipe D. Avalos and his ex-wife, Arcelia Avalos, accused Marcia Campbell, Campal Corp., and Planet Management Group of fraud, in a complaint filed last month in Westchester Supreme Court.
Campbell allegedly told Felipe Avalos that she could save his home.
“It was clear that we were desperate and were willing to try anything,” the complaint states. Now Campbell and Planet Management, a mortgage company, seek “to finish the fraud by having me physically removed from the house so that they can sell it and take the remaining value … for themselves.”
Campbell states in a Feb. 25 affidavit that the “claim for fraud is totally without merit and should be dismissed.” She is seeking $25,000, punitive damages and attorney fees from the Avaloses for allegedly bringing a frivolous action to “harass, embarrass, annoy and intimidate her.”
According to the Avaloses, they bought the house at Winyah Terrace for $349,000 in 2002 and later mortgaged it to IndyMac Bank for $455,000.
“Unfortunately, we experienced financial issues and were unable to pay the underlying mortgage,” Felipe Avalos states in an affidavit, “and the bank commenced a foreclosure action against us.”
IndyMac filed for foreclosure in 2016, seeking more than $332,000.
Avalos says Campbell offered to help him in 2019 by getting the property transferred to a friend of his. Then after two years he could refinance the house in his name.
He claims that Campbell repeatedly demanded money to make the transfer work and he ultimately paid her $43,000.
Instead of transferring the property to his friend, Avalos says in the affidavit, he was told at the closing in 2020 that it would be transferred to Campbell’s company, Campal Corp., of the Bronx.
Campbell says she does not own or have any affiliation with Campal Corp.
It was Felipe Avalos who wanted to have the property sold to a friend who would later transfer it back to him, according to her affidavit. “But I specifically informed him that this could not be done as the sale would have to be an arm’s length transaction to avoid any claim of fraud on the bank.”
She says she arranges a short sale ”“ where a financially distressed homeowner sells their property for less than the amount due on the mortgage and the proceeds of the sale go to the lender. The lender agreed to the short sale, accepted a $316,150 payment, and the foreclosure against the Avaloses was discontinued.
The property was deeded to Campal for $350,000 in January 2020, according to a Westchester County property record, and it was mortgaged to Planet Management Group, of Melville, Suffolk County, for $451,500.
Avalos continued to live in the house and he says Campbell demanded $5,800 a month to pay the mortgage. Then in March 2021, he was served with an eviction notice. That action is pending in New Rochelle city court.
Campbell says in her affidavit that her firm, Extreme Realty Associates, was paid a customary commission on the short sale, and she never received any money from the Avaloses.
After the short sale, she says, Felipe Avalos continued to live in the house without paying the mortgage or rent.
The Avaloses are asking the court to declare them as the owners of the property; cancel the deed to Campal Corp. and the mortgage to Planet Management; and award unspecified damages.
They are represented by White Plains attorney Mark A. Guterman.
Campbell”™s attorney, Percival A. Clarke, filed a motion to dismiss the case on Feb. 25, 2021, arguing that the Avaloses failed to identify any fraudulent misrepresentations “because there simply were no misrepresentations.”
