Kansas City woman loses family home, $32K after contractor ruins house

Yahoo

17-07-2025

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City woman is out more than $30,000 and the house she once called home is now unrecognizable – gutted, dangerous and possibly unsalvageable.
Felicia Safir, 71, is a lifelong music teacher. But in 2023, she decided it was time to downsize from the home that had been in her family for generations, a house her aunt once proudly owned as one of the first Black homeowners on the block.
To prepare it for sale, Safir hired contractor David Lyman.
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She took out a $40,000 loan and paid his company $32,500 to complete a wide range of repairs — roofing, electrical, flooring and walls, all spelled out in a signed contract FOX4 obtained.
What she got in return left her in tears.
'When I came into the house and saw what he had done. Stealing things and damaging the property. All I could do was sit on the steps and cry,' Safir told FOX4.
Inside the home, floors have been ripped out and replaced with unsafe plywood. Walls are missing. Electrical wiring has been stripped. A chandelier — gone. And the bathroom? Nothing but framing.
Safir, who is disabled, says even the access ramp she relied on to enter her home has vanished. She calls Lyman not just a bad contractor, but a thief.
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FOX4 tried calling Lyman multiple times. He picked up on the third try but declined to answer questions, only telling us to look at the new roof. That roof, however, is already falling apart.
Two years later, Safir is still struggling to pick up the pieces. But now she's getting help from local realtor Danny Tipton, who stepped in to help her sell the home to a rehabber.
The sale is expected to close soon, just enough to repay the loan.
'Do you think this was a bad repairman or a thief?' FOX4 asked.
'I think he was a thief,' Safir replied.
Now, she's sharing her story as a warning to others to make sure you know who's working on your home and hold them accountable.
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