MANTECA: Homeowners in the upscale Paseo West development in Manteca are getting organized to see whether they can convince Lodi-based Anderson Homes to change plans to auction off 34 homes next month. Owners of 26 homes there think the home builder has treated them unfairly and in bad faith by planning to auction off vacant or under-construction homes at prices that could be more than $200,000 less than what current residents paid for their homes within the past year, said Dave Cantrell, one of the first to buy a home in the subdivision.

It is unlikely Anderson Homes will drop the auction, he said, and purchase contracts state that the builder might sell other properties there viafrom Business 1 auction. But homeowners would like to see at least from $20,000 to $30,000 each in cash compensation for the property-value drops that would result in the neighborhood, Cantrell said. Earlier in the week, Barton had said the slow housing market had pressured the company to turn to auctions as a way to sell homes in the partially finished subdivision. Otherwise, the homes would remain vacant for the foreseeable future, he said, and that wouldn't be good for the neighborhood.

Cantrell said he doesn't like the empty houses around his house, "but at what cost do we fill these?" He and neighbors are trying to spread the word as widely as possible via the media to put some pressure on Anderson Homes. "We know we can't stop them," he said, "but we want to send a loud signal to Anderson Homes that we don't like what they're doing to people who bought in good faith."

The homeowners are realists and realize that in this slow housing market, their homes aren't worth the same as when they bought them, Cantrell said. And he expects that over time, the housing market will fully recover, which means that a homeowner would suffer financially only if having to sell before then, he said.

Homeowners also are concerned that most people who want to buy an auction property for a residence won't be able to qualify for a loan in the current tight credit scene, leaving mostly investors, who will turn over the homes to renters, he said.