Wizig's 140 missing deeds?
There is appearance of impropriety everywhere in the city's handling of Scott Wizig, the Houston investor acting under the business name of NY Liberty Homes LLC. Although he allegedly bought 280 real estate parcels at the city foreclosure auction last October, many parcels he supposedly bought are still not listed in his name eight months later. He also bought about 20 to 30 properties in foreclosure from private mortgage companies, pushing his likely total to 300 parcels. But only 146 parcels were filed with the County Clerk as of last week. That means about 150 deeds are 'missing'. But nobody is talking. Repeated requests to the Corporation Counsel Office got no response.
The most dramatic missing deed is the Dodge Street Diocesan Campus, where a recent News article alleged he was planning 50 new houses with the approval of the Catholic Church, former owner of the site. Actually the parcel is still listed on assessment records as owned by MHT Holdings (Mark H. Trammell, business-partner son of former Chief City Court Judge, who was indicted & imprisoned for theft from HUD. Trammell Sr. was charged with stealing only $25,000 of the approximate $3 million missing; Mark who was fully involved in the scam faced no charges of any kind. Judge Trammell moved to an unknown location upon release from his 45-day prison sentence.
City planners assure us the new Wizig housing is not a certainty by any means. However, the city's (mis) handling of Wizig is symptomatic of its virtual lack of any housing policy.
The missing deeds have not been accounted for. However on June 20 & 21 ten more deeds were filed, reducing the 'missing' total to 140 (?) The newest WIZIG deeds are:
| Address | Price | Type | GAR Assess. | Wizig Assess. |
| 30 Rohr | $1,000 | I fam | $11,000 | $4,000 |
| 827 Northampton | $ 700 | 3 fam | $ 3,200 | $2,400 |
| 253 Laurel | $1,300 | 2 fam | $17,800 | $2,600 |
| 58 Goembel | $3,700 | 1 fam | $15,400 | $5,000 |
| 19 Coe | $1,000 | 2 fam | $14,000 | $2,200 |
| 121 Southampton | $1,000 | 1 fam | $ 9,200 | $2,500 |
| 2103 Bailey | $1,100 | 2 fam | $13,500 | $4,300 |
| 157 Masten | $ 700 | downtown row | $20,000 | $2,200 |
| 1292 Michigan | $1,000 | 2 fam | $20,900 | $2,700 |
| 600 Woodlawn | $4,000 | 2 fam | $22,400 | $5,500 |
| TOTALS | $15,500 | $147,400 | $33,400 |
Analysis: Wizig bought 17 housing units for $15500, an average of $912 per living unit.
Wizig got his assessments reduced from the new GAR Associate values established last summer (contract cost to city $1.67 million) by $114,400 or a reduction of 78%.on the assessed values.
His average assessed value is $3340, making his average city & county tax about $84 per house.
Meanwhile, a Wizig house purchased from a private mortgage company last October at 332 Breckenridge (near Grant) is again wide open and still full of trash after repeated efforts over a month finally got it partially secured a month ago. Three weeks ago a Wizig crew moved high piles of trash onto the second floor front porch and front driveway ,where it still remains after repeated complaints. Many Wizig houses and yard are loaded with trash despite his unprecedented unlimited free dumping at the city drop off site. Most yards remain un-mowed, with grass averaging 18 inches in height. Scores of similar example abound.
In a city with 22,854 vacancies, & proposed demolition of 22,000 units at a cost of $76 million over a decade, why sell virtually worthless houses to a slumlord from Houston? But, lacking a housing policy, we now have "Masiello Approved" SLUMS OF HOUSTON. Its not a pretty picture.
