These days most people spend years saving just to get a chance at buying their first home. But one guy from Ohio ended up owning an entire street after just a few months of work.
It wasn’t some big real estate plan. It happened because of a mistake, and he only spent $5,000.
Jason Fauntleroy thought he was making a simple buy at a sheriff’s auction in Trenton, a city just north of Cincinnati, Ohio. What he got was a whole lot more than he expected.
He thought it was just a simple land purchase
Back in 2021, Fauntleroy spotted what looked like a vacant plot of land listed at a Butler County Sheriff’s Office auction. He put down $5,000 thinking he’d bought a place to build a house.
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The deal came with an entire road
What he actually ended up with was not just a single lot. The sale also included Bloomfield Court, a private street that connects five other houses where people were already living.
City officials tried to explain the mix-up
Trenton’s city manager, Marcos Nichols, told WCPO he wasn’t even sure how the mix-up happened. He said: “I’m not sure how that occurs other than it was a private drive that was created through a homeowner’s association.
“The homeowner’s association was responsible for maintaining that property and upkeeping it.”
Owning the street came with strings attached
Fauntleroy didn’t own the homes along Bloomfield Court, but since the road itself was now his, that meant its maintenance was on him. The homeowners’ association had been the one handling that before, but once he bought it, the job fell into his lap.
The city tried to take the road back
Three years later, the city of Trenton started the process of taking the property back through eminent domain. That would allow them to make it a public road and handle maintenance themselves.
But Fauntleroy didn’t like the way things were handled. He said the city only appraised the lot he meant to buy, not the road that came with it.
He said dealing with the city was impossible
When he tried reaching out about the issue, Fauntleroy said it was nothing but frustration. “They shut me out. They blocked my calls. It’s hard to even get through anybody.”
The offer left him feeling cheated
Nichols told WCPO he couldn’t comment on the appraisal numbers, but explained the city just wanted to officially make the road public so they could take over responsibility.
But Fauntleroy felt like he wasn’t being treated right. He said: “Treat people fair; do honest work. Don’t just take advantage of someone because they don’t have the means of getting an attorney.”
