Bankrupt Parade of Homes builder owed millions. Many repaid just 6 cents on the $1

The staggering bankruptcy of a Kennewick home builder that started with a bang in 2019 ended quietly this spring, with most creditors receiving little to none of their money back.

In one case, a Tri-Cities couple said they’d paid Solferino Homes nearly $600,000 to build them home. They received just $38,000 when the case settled. Another Richland couple who were owed $308,000 received only $20,000.

Solferino Homes, also known as M|S Homes, was led by Marco Solferino and focused on custom homes situated along the Columbia River and in the hills above Richland.

The company regularly built homes featured in Parade of Homes, the annual tour organized by the Home Builders Association of Tri-Cities. It won best-in-show for its 2011 entry in Richland’s Westcliffe neighborhood, out of the 26 entries that year.

It folded five years ago as debts overwhelmed assets, locking the doors to its offices on West Tucannon Avenue.

It filed to liquidate in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Eastern Washington in March 2019, listing $1.1 million in assets and $9.2 million in liabilities.

Solferino and his wife, Nicole, sold their West Richland home for $1 million later that year and then filed for individual bankruptcy, property and court records show.

The business cautioned creditors, including customers who made six-figure deposits expecting Solferino to build the homes of their dreams, there wouldn’t be enough money to pay them back.

That didn’t stop a crowd of frustrated homebuyers from flocking to a hearing at the Richland courthouse to confront Solferino.

None received more than a few thousand dollars when the case closed, court records show.

Solferino Homes assets

John D. Munding, a Spokane-based trustee assigned to take control of the Solferino Homes assets, raised $1.3 million by selling home sites the company owned in Pasco and Richland, according to his final report filed in March 2024 before the case closed on April 29.

Munding’s last filing shows how the money was split between creditors with competing interests.

Creditors with the highest priority claims — including Community First Bank and Benton and Franklin counties — were repaid the full value of their accepted claims, a combined figure the court set at $777,000.

Munding and the partners who worked to wind down the business were paid $231,000 to administer the case.

There wasn’t much left for its unsecured creditors, including homebuyers, landscapers and construction companies. Many didn’t bother to file claims and received nothing.

The court paid $160,000 to unsecured creditors after the court calculated their claims were worth $2.5 million, or about 6.4 cents on the dollar, according to the final distribution report.

Some business creditors included:

• Premier Landscaping & Design Inc., owed $285,000, received $18,400.
• Brashear Electric Inc., owed $25,500, received $1,600.
• Three Rivers Mechanical, owed $65,400, received $4,200.
• Standard Paint and Flooring, owed $56,200, received $3,600.
• Connell Sand & Gravel, owed $2,600, received $170.
• Apollo Sheet Metal Inc., claimed $48,000 was owed, received nothing.
• Rolling Stone Construction, owed $99,000, received $6,400.
• American Woodwork Corp., owed $14,400, received $930.

Solferino Homes listed Pomona Properties & Investments LLC of Kennewick as its top unsecured creditor with a $4 million claim. Pomona apparently did not file a claim with the court and received nothing, the final report said.

The attorney who represented Solferino Homes could not be reached this week about the case.

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