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Family needs help dealing with work on home

Posted at 5:45 PM, Feb 26, 2016
and last updated 2016-02-26 17:45:10-05

A family who bought a home in Detroit says they got more than they bargained for when contractors left them with even more work to do.

The Josephsons say they moved to Detroit from Colorado, wanting to be part of the city’s comeback.

While they’re enjoying their time here, they are having a hard time in their new home.

Steven Josephson showed us his Marygrove home on Greenlawn Street, where he says everything from the plumbing to the ceiling to the cabinets is flawed.

He and his wife Corey are both teachers in Detroit. They got this house for $4,300 through the city’s Land Bank program – where abandoned houses are auctioned off.

As part of the program, Talmer Bank gave the first time homebuyers a $25,000 grant towards renovations – as they did for 14 other families who moved into the neighborhood.

The Josephsons would have to work with Southwest Solutions – who disperses the grant funds directly to contractors.

But the couple says they had to live in a hotel for weeks waiting for work to get done, were forced to move in because they were running out of money and, they say, the contractors did sloppy work, so they had to hire new contractors to redo almost everything.

Corey says she had to take a medical leave from work.

We got a hold of the contractor, who is licensed, on the phone. They say they do not agree with the Josephsons.

Southwest Solutions gave us this statement:

We do not choose or recommend a contractor. If the homeowner does not have a contractor in mind, we refer the homeowner to a list of contractors from which the homeowner may choose.

The company says the Josephsons signed a contractor selection disclosure and gave them permission to give the grant money to the contractor, saying they were satisfied with the work.

Talmer Bank says they've been working very hard over the last two years to try to revitalize this Marygrove neighborhood and they say they're willing to work with any homeowner whose experiencing problems.

Talmer Bank says they are willing to work with this family to make things right.

We are happy to report Talmer Bank will be sitting down with the Josephson family next week to talk about ways they can help them.