North Aurora to sell townhouse to Habitat for Humanity

Fox Valley Habitat for Humanity plans to turn a North Aurora townhouse once filled with clutter, trash, pests and rodents into a home for a family.

It was the only bidder for 207B Linn Court, offering $17,500. The village board opened the bid Monday night. Habitat provided 5 percent earnest money, and has to complete and return a purchase contract within five days. If it does so, the board would approve the sale June 18.

The village spent $34,480 on cleaning and legal fees to take possession. In July 2010 it declared the unit uninhabitable, and persuaded its sole occupant to move into a nursing home. Neighbors had complained about foul odors emanating from the house, as well as rodents and insects.

The village hired a disaster cleanup firm, which ended up ripping out mold-infested drywall and carpeting throughout the two-story, three-bedroom unit; trapping a cat; killing rodents and insects; removing the contents; and sanitizing the place. Possessions were piled as high as the ceiling in some rooms, according to Scott Buening, the village’s community development director, and the windows were covered with black plastic.

The village also paid taxes and association fees on the home. It put a lien on the property for the legal and cleanup costs, but in January accepted a quitclaim deed for the house.

The unit is one of four side-by-side in a 50-year-old brick building, part of a former apartment complex that converted to condominium ownership in the 1980s. In January, Buening told the village board that purchase prices for condos there had dropped from $60,000 in mid-2011 to the $30,000s.