Francis' home is among the Altieri-built homes in Maryland and Pennsylvania that have been included in charges or lawsuits filed against the builder in the two states. The Maryland charges, filed by a unit of the Consumer Protection Division, also say the builder failed to pay subcontractors or refund consumers' deposits or advance payments. And in a March 19 lawsuit, the Pennsylvania attorney general's office alleged that Altieri did not complete homes, roads, sidewalks or clubhouses in some subdivisions and did not pay contractors in others, which resulted in liens being placed on the new owners.
Dozens of lawsuits
Altieri Homes or Altieri Enterprises have been defendants in dozens of cases stretching back to the mid 1990s, with a growing number filed in the past year and a half, according to Maryland court records.
Altieri said what happened to the company is happening to every builder in the state - the only difference is how much cash flow they have to weather the storm.
Julie Wright, one of Francis' neighbors in the Aberdeen development of Perryman Pointe on the Bush River in Harford County, signed a contract in March 2006 on a $790,000 custom home that was still not finished last November. But she stuck with the builder through years of "empty promises" because she was afraid to walk away and end up owing money on a loan and getting no house.
"You have half a house with a frame that no one will buy just sitting there," said Wright, who finally hired a new contractor and moved in last month. "There weren't a whole lot of options."
Residents in Altieri's Perryman Pointe, planned as a gated, waterfront community of about 50 homes, said they were lured by the idea of luxury waterfront living, with private boat slips, a clubhouse, gourmet kitchens and decks and balconies jutting from second and third stories. But by late last year, the developer had abandoned the project, leaving homes partly completed, roads unfinished and all but 11 of the 50 lots vacant. The clubhouse was never built and repairs never made to an aging marina.
Harford County officials contacted the state attorney general's office after Altieri Homes failed to respond to construction deficiencies, said Richard Lynch, director of the county's Department of Inspections, Licenses and Permits.
"Some of the homes were in different stages of construction, and it seemed like the construction had stopped on a number of them," Lynch said. "Altieri Homes would leave that home and start another home."
