A distressing number of properties continues to be sold for foreclosure in Nye County, but this one caught the eye of a women who calls out the trustee sales at the flagpole in front of the county courthouse in Tonopah.

A legal notice that took up a half page in the Pahrump Valley Times last Friday advertised the partial sale of the Mayfield Ranch Estates, just southwest of the junction of Highway 160 and Simkins Road, to satisfy a $65.7 million deed of trust.

The sale has been set for 11 a.m. Dec. 8.

The current owners, Pahrump Sunridge, include C.H. Investment Trust and M.C. Builders Inc., from Stockton, Calif., according to the Nevada Secretary of State's listing of business entities. Capitol Corporate Services Inc. of Carson City is the registered agent.

Development at the Mayfield Ranch Estates had been going gangbusters back in 2005 and 2006, until the subprime mortgage crisis hit. The subdivision was large enough to merit a listing in the Nye County water resources plan adopted in 2002. The 181 lots were originally subdivided by the Terry Group in 1998.

Matthew Homes bought the last 34 lots in 2006 during the construction boom, then wanted to sell 11 lots back to the Terry Group this year.

The foreclosure notice lists 16 lots along Lampshire Lane, and part of Mayfield Ranch Road. Four lots include homes.

Infrastructure has been completed for the subdivision, with paved streets, curb, gutter, water and sewer lines. The water and sewer lines were constructed by the developer and dedicated to Desert Utilities, but the utility company hasn't been served any notice of forfeiture, general manager Mike Johnson said.

Desert Utilities is a subsidiary of the Focus Property Group, which had purchased the Desert Trails subdivision from Hollis Harris, who then reacquired the subdivision while Focus Group kept the utility company.

Morgan Jones, who is handling the pending sale for the Sacramento law firm of McDonough, Holland and Allen, was not available for comment.

Pahrump Sunridge isn't alone. The Nye County recorder's office lists 1,484 notices of default issued for failure to pay mortgages from Jan. 1, 2007, through Tuesday. Eight hundred fifty-five of those notices were issued so far in 2008.

Of the 1,484 notices of default, 615 were eventually sold at trustee sales, another 77 were deeded to government institutions like the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation.

The pace of trustees sales in front of the courthouse hasn't slowed down. There were 43 in October, 40 in September, 59 in August, 45 in July and 50 in June.

* A trustee sale for Willow Creek Holdings, owners of the Willow Creek golf course, to satisfy a $400,000 deed of trust scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday, was postponed until Dec. 1.

The creditors of this sale include Hans Bothmann with a half interest, Dakota Investments Management Inc. with 35 percent and TRXE Inc., at 15 percent. The deed of trust and obligations are held by Ashland Capital.

Last week, a trustee sale of 18 lots for Willow Creek Golf Course in Calvada Unit 7 and over 1,800 acre feet of water rights was postponed until Dec. 12. That sale included a minimum asking bid of $7.5 million. The golf course has been closed since Oct. 13.