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In 2005, Frantz Stanfield was eager to move his family into a northwest Charlotte neighborhood that seemed far removed from the sounds of police sirens and heavy traffic.
Two years later, dozens of houses in the Barrington community had been emptied by foreclosure, and break-ins had become a weekly occurrence. Many residents came and left so quickly, Stanfield never got to know them.
Now, eight years after the neighborhood was developed, more than half of its 107 starter homes have been foreclosed upon. Much of the blame, Stanfield and other residents believe, belongs to the homebuilder – Beazer Homes USA.
“They've ruined it all the way around,” Stanfield said Thursday.
Federal authorities filed criminal charges against Beazer on Wednesday, and struck a deal that allows the homebuilder to escape prosecution by paying up to $50 million to borrowers defrauded by its mortgage arm.
Prosecutors say Beazer Mortgage Corp. used fraudulent practices to originate loans. As a result, authorities say, homebuyers defaulted on loans, and neighborhoods battered by foreclosures watched home values plummet.
Homebuyers have been the hardest hit in Barrington and other high-foreclosure neighborhoods. But all of Charlotte has been left to clean up the damage. Taxpayers must cover the increased cost for police, housing inspectors and other government services. Sinking home values mean less tax revenue.
“I think what (Beazer) did was unconscionable … ,” said Charlotte Mayor Pro Tem Susan Burgess. “It was greed at its worst, and it really destroyed the lives of a lot of people.”
In Barrington, the neighborhood off Sunset Road West where Stanfield rents his home, the early years were relatively quiet. He first noticed problems about two years after he moved in. Returning from work one day, the 39-year-old chef saw “for rent” signs in four neighborhood yards.
Gradually, more families lost their homes to foreclosure. And the empty houses proved to be magnets for crime.
One day this spring, around noon, Stanfield was in his house when he heard the sounds of racing cars – and then a crash.
Thieves had stolen a truck and filled it with appliances from an empty home, he said. Pursued by police, the stolen truck mowed down a street sign before coming to rest in Stanfield's yard, about 20 feet from his house.
“If there wasn't a kill switch on that truck, it probably would have smashed into the side of my house,” Stanfield said.
A 2007 Observer investigation found that Beazer, operating as builder and mortgage broker, arranged larger loans than some buyers could afford. Many of the original homeowners in Barrington qualified for loans from Beazer with shaky credit and no savings. Some said they didn't understand they were getting loans with interest rates that would rise after the first or second year.
Beazer's practices led Barrington to a rapid decline, some residents say. As interest rates on adjustable-rate mortgages rose, families became stuck with monthly payments they could no longer cover. Yards and houses deteriorated. At least 55 houses were emptied by foreclosure. And renters with less stake in maintaining their properties moved in.
When Elizabeth Lance moved into her 1,600-square-foot home on McIntyre Ridge Drive last summer, it had been empty for more than two months due to a foreclosure. Large red stains discolored the carpet. Leaking water had damaged a kitchen cabinet. Linoleum was coming loose from the floor.
Next door, Lance said, the house sat empty, and the grass was 2 feet high and strewn with litter.
Residents say Barrington is showing signs of improvement as new owners fix foreclosed homes.
But Lance, a 24-year-old physical education teacher, still sees uncut lawns and signs of wear. When she takes her 3-week-old daughter on walks, “it smells like garbage sometimes,” she says.
The foreclosures have taken an emotional toll as well.
Resident Kip White pointed to three houses in Barrington once occupied by friends who lost their homes when mortgage payments rose beyond their reach. One of the families had children who had become close friends with his young son, he said.
“And to have to see them move to the other side of town – that just broke our heart.”
Staff database editor Ted Mellnik contributed.
