Auctioneer Paul Talkowski waits yesterday for foreclosure bidders to arrive at the house at 6 Anawan St., Bristol. None came and the house sold for a pre-submitted bid.

The Providence Journal / Bill Murphy

BRISTOL — A Mercedes pulled up to Lisa and Kenneth DeVoy’s home at 6 Anawan Ave. yesterday and a man in black with an attaché case and a clipboard planted himself at the property’s edge.

The cottage’s shades were drawn; the Cougar that usually sits in the gravel driveway was gone.

“Good morning,” said the auctioneer to three men standing outside.

Any bidders?

“I’m just spectating,” said one of the men.

“We’re just gonna see what it’s going for,” said an older man in a baseball cap. His name is Everette Francis and he is 86. He said that he has bought “hundreds of houses” at foreclosure auctions. But he was not interested in buying this house. “There’s too much owed on it,” Francis said.

The amount owed as of March 16 was $239,329, according to documents from California-based Freemont Investment & Loan. That includes principal of $181,543.

“Usually when you buy something like this, it’s a gamble,” said Francis’ 45-year-old son, Kevin. “I don’t think it’s worth much more than $175,000.”

Apparently, neither did the mortgage company.

Receiving no bids, the auctioneer accepted the sole bid from Freemont Investment & Loan to buy the property back for $174,583.02.

In other words, the DeVoys’ mortgage lender has taken back the house at a loss.

“Property values a year ago aren’t what they are now,” said the auctioneer, Paul D. Talkowski, president of Daniel J. Flynn & Co., of Quincy, Mass. “These days, it’s not unusual at all” to receive no bids at an auction, he said, “because there are so many foreclosure properties and auction-goers are much more savvy.”

The Anawan Avenue cottage now becomes “Real Estate-Owned” property, or REO. The mortgage company is expected to hire a real-estate agent to market the property for sale, he said. And, at some point, if the DeVoys are still living there, he said, the lenders will try to get them to leave.

The DeVoys say they hope it does not come to that. Lisa DeVoy bought the house when she was single in 1997 for $79,000. Since then, she and her husband have had financial problems complicated by illness and disability. They refinanced three times — each time with risky, “subprime” mortgages that carried high interest rates, fees and penalties. The DeVoys also took cash out of their mortgage several times to pay for medical bills, house repairs and other expenses. They borrowed so much that the principal alone on their mortgage had ballooned to nearly $181,543. That is $50,639 more than the last assessment estimated the property is worth.

Yesterday, Kenneth DeVoy expressed surprise that the lender bought back the house for less than $175,000.

“I could repurchase this property,” he said, “if I could get refinanced.” He and his wife have received two letters from their lender, he said, asking them to call.

“There’s got to be a way for us to get this house back to keep,” Kenneth said.

The DeVoys now live on about $1,518 a month in Social Security disability payments.

Kenneth, who has colon cancer, is scheduled for surgery on Thursday. Lisa has said there is no way that they can even consider moving out while he is recovering.

“I need more time,” Lisa said. “I have to call the mortgage company.”

larditi@projo.com