Squatters May Be Taking Over Your Properties
If you have moved out of your property because you relocated out of the area or if you moved into a rental already because you are doing a short sale be aware that you may have opened up your property to squatters. 
In one of our vacant short sale listings in Port St Lucie Florida- our sellers had to move closer to their jobs in Miami due to loss of income. They could no longer afford to pay for the gas to drive all those miles to and from work. So they rented a house close to the husband's work in Miami and called us to do a short sale on their property in Port St Lucie. They had it listed prior to calling us with buyowner.com who did not have a clue on how to do a short sale. Needless to say, we had to clean up the mess.
When we arrived to take photos of the vacant property we were met with a strong smell of pot. It was fresh. All over the house, there was evidence that squatters were living there or it could have become a teenage hang out to get high. We secured the house, called the locksmith to change the locks and bolted down the windows. However, no matter what the sellers and we did the squatters kept getting in. They even had power because one of the terms of our listing agreement is that sellers must leave their water and power.
This is happening more and more to our vacant listings. Sometimes we scare them away and sometimes we don't. A word of caution to agents- don't check on your vacant listings alone. Bring someone with you and be prepared to find anything.
There are squatters here in south Florida who are actually occupying vacant properties and telling the owners that they refuse to move out because they have a right to occupy the house because it was abandoned.
Here in Wellington Florida a man filed notice in the official county records that he was taking possession of 1000 homes in Broward county and 3 in Palm Beach County. He also took over 10 condos in North Lauderdale. He then rented out 6 of them and collected over $20,000 in rent. He was arrested but is pleading not guilty. His attorney says that he is a good samaritan and is saving these blighted homes.
Well, let's see. Condos are not blighted unless the HOA stops paying for services. So that is not likely going to wash for him in court. Also, the other properties depending on where they are located are mostly in good condition. All of our vacant short sale listings are in very good condition and ready to move into when we sell the properties to qualified buyers who actually get loans to buy their houses or pay all cash. On the other hand, we see a ton of rentals in bad shape because the tenants are not maintaining the properties. After all, they don't own the property.
The squatters and the people taking over multiple properties through these filings are using the "adverse possession" law that is dated back to 16th century England. Here in Florida, adverse possession can take place if the person using adverse possession pays the taxes, maintains the property and lives in the property or uses the property for a period of seven years.
This law is usually used here when there is an encroachment on one property from a neighbor, such as a fence.
But the other side of this coin is that you can not just break into a house and start living there without the probability of being arrested for trespassing. It is also illegal to collect rent money though trespassing.
Many homeowners live in their homes without getting foreclosed on and without making payments for up to 3 years but it is not likely that the bank will not foreclose within 7 years.
So the seven year rule is not likely going to be successful in court.
Be on the look out, protect your property rights. Pay your property taxes before they are delinquent, pay your HOA fees on time and try to stay in your property until your short sale is accepted by your lender. These issues can cloud your title which will make it very difficult to close on your property.
Homeowners have choices. Maybe a strategic short sale is the right option for you. It is most often better than just leaving the keys on the table and walking away.
Don't Delay! Don't Wait Until The Sheriff Is Knocking On Your Door! Pick up your phone and call us to see if you can avoid foreclosure.
To view Welington Florida short sales Click here. We know Wellington Florida Real Estate and Wellington Florida Short Sales and will help you get your home Sold if you need to Sell your home and help you buy your home in Palm Beach County Florida: Call us today.
Copyright © By Katerina Gasset 2010 * All Rights Reserved* Squatters May Be Taking Over Your Home*
Nestor Gasset and Katerina Gasset- Realtors®, CIPS, ABR, SFR, GRI, REOS
International Properties & Investments, Inc
Call us today at 561-753-0135 to get your house sold.
Hi Nestor and Katerina-
Squatters are always a possibility in vacant homes and a real trial to cope with. Kudos to you for keeping the utilities on and those properties ready to sell and for encouraging homeowners to take charge an get those properties sold. Until they sell it, the problem can't be solved!
Sara in San Antonio
Seems to me there should be some sort of recourse against these squatters who seem to think they are entitled take these propertiest over. Interesting post, thanks for sharing.
Hi Katerina...Great Advice,
I see you and Nestor are selling a lot of Short Sales around Wellington, well done.
katerina - Adverse posession, it used to be 2 years and when they changed it to 7 and the person has to pay taxes, i thought I would never hear it again
Jon- They go in and pay the taxes, then they file notices with the court making their claim on the property. Pretty bizarre. We will see how it will play out in these trials if the defendants choose to go to trial instead of plea bargains.
It's ridiculous how much time and energy people have to put into protecting their property rights sometimes...I read an article about a man in Florida, though, who was installing homeless families in vacant properties - and thinking he had the right to do so! Jusr when you think you have heard it all...
Susan- Then they claim that their crime is good. It is amazing how they spin things around. The diminishing of our private property rights is a huge problem in our country. I am ready to publish another post about the Supreme Court ruling against private property rights. We are seeing them eroded day by day.
There are always those who will take advantage of any situation no matter who it might hurt.
Damon- yes, I agree. The attorney general here says that this is just another con job by those who take advantage of someone else's misfortune. I say, stay in your home as long as you possibly can. THat is the best option.
Yep, agree with Damon too! There will ALWAYS be those that will take advantage of any situation. It's part of human nature! The bad and the good.
Another thing for the sellers to consider before moving out is their Homeowners Insurance may not cover any damage squatters may cause if the house has been vacant over 30 days.
I had my first experience with squatters this year...it's terrifying and throws you when you unexpectedly see a makeshift bed in a vacant house, a window cracked open for access, food wrappers and bottles of gatorade that said they had been there for a few days...
I don't go anywhere alone anymore.
Katerina, I hope you will keep us updated on this problem. I have not seen this happening here in the midwest, but I would hate to see a precedent set anywhere. It is a scary thought.
Hi Katerina~ It makes me wonder how in the world these people can dream up these schemes! It is just disgraceful!
I was in LA last month for the ActiveRain Camp (Excellent AR Camp I might add!) and the taxi driver I had told me that many of the gorgeous CA homes were vacant but filled with squatters. So, it must be happening more and more.
We just had six of them get busted here in Seattle a few days ago. They were squatting in a million dollar home.
I have obviously read about this type of thing numerous times. We are fortuntate not to have to deal with this issue in our area.
I have one of those short sales right now. I always take someone with me when I go check on the house because I never quite know what I will find there. Thanks for bringing this up!
When we moved from Virginia Beach our house sat empty for a year. During that time we were notified by the neighbors that "illegal aliens" had moved in. These folks were people our realtor had found to work on our house. While they worked...and we paid...they also had their illegal crew living there without our permission. When I found out I called our realtor and left a message telling him what was happening, but he in turn left me a furious message, defending the people he had hired. No wonder it took a year to sell. We put it on the market in 2006.
Never again will we leave a house empty.
Wow!! This is very interesting!
I am no bleeding heart liberal, but I DO ENJOY BEING THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE from time to time.
With the real number of unemployment & under-employment realistically around 15-20%, unemployment benefits ending (no benefits the self employed), foreclosures on millions of homes...WHERE DO WE THINK ALL THESE PEOPLE ARE GOING?
I am not making excuses, I am asking a legitimate question...As I sit here in my air conditioned office, typing on my computer, listening to my overfed dog snore in the corner...I have to ask myself, if we were unable to pay our mortgage (and as a real estate agent married to a loan officer, this isn't such a crazy hypothetical), living in a state with 10% unemployment, I am someone who looked for a job for about a year, WHERE WOULD WE GO if we lost our home?
Yes, we have been betrayed by our government, by our banking industry...will we now turn our backs on each other and sit in judgment of the circumstances of others...
What would you do if you lost your home, where would you live with your children & pets, how would you feed your family & pay for rent & transportation?
(Of course, the use of the word YOU does not refer to any one person, but You as the proverbial whole...)
Adverse possession is an archaic throwback in common law that needs desperately to be modified by statute to cover the fence encroachment and nothing else. Once legal title passes to an owner it should stay with that owner in perpetuity except in the situations specifically covered by statute or estate law.
We have seen that a lot in the San Diego community. Some of these individuals are not friendly. So beware. Many times the home is vandalize and the seller gets blamed for missing stove, dishwashers, faucets etc, when it is the squatters that have done the harm.
I saw something on the news a while back that ACORN was breaking into abandoned houses and placing homeless people in them. The "reporter" didn't seem to have much of a problem with it. Vacant doesn't mean abandoned. There are a lot of second homes that are vacant most of the year. In Michigan you don't need to pay the taxes to claim adverse possession- it just has to be open, hostile use of the property for at least 15 years.
Wow! Thanks for THAT tidbit! Even though we have vacant properties here in Ocean City, MD, we don't YET have squatters!
Wow, this is crazy. It is more scary now that 95 yr old Dad isn't going back to FL and we have to sell condo.
The information is from an FBI Press Release. I have included the link as well as the printout. Amazing scams seem to appear every day.
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http://www.fbi.gov/page2/march08/housestealing_032508.html
Headline Archives HOUSE STEALING The Latest Scam on the Block 03/25/08 House under a magnifying glass What do you get when you combine two popular rackets these days—identity theft and mortgage fraud? A totally new kind of crime: house stealing. Here’s how it generally works: … The con artists start by picking out a house to steal—say, YOURS. … Next, they assume your identity—getting a hold of your name and personal information (easy enough to do off the Internet) and using that to create fake IDs, social security cards, etc. …
Then, they go to an office supply store and purchase forms that transfer property. … After forging your signature and using the fake IDs, they file these deeds with the proper authorities, and lo and behold, your house is now THEIRS.*
There are some variations on this theme… … Con artists look for a vacant house—say, a vacation home or rental property—and do a little research to find out who owns it. Then, they steal the owner’s identity, go through the same process of transferring the deed, put the empty house on the market, and pocket the profits. … Or, the fraudsters steal a house a family is still living in…find a buyer (someone, say, who is satisfied with a few online photos)…and sell the house without the family even knowing. In fact, the rightful owners continue right on paying the mortgage for a house they no longer own. House stealing graphic. Here's how it generally works.
Step 1, pick a house. Step 2, assume the identity. Step 3, transfer the deed.
Variation 1, sell the house. Variation
2, buy the house using false identities. It can get even more complicated than this, as we learned in a recent case out of Los Angeles that we investigated with the IRS.
Last year, a real estate business owner in southeast Los Angeles pled guilty to leading a scam that defrauded more than 100 homeowners and lenders out of some $12 million. She promised to help struggling homeowners pay their mortgages by refinancing their loans. Instead, she and her partners in crime used stolen identities or “straw buyers” (people who are paid for the illegal use of their personal information) to purchase these homes. They then pocketed the money they borrowed but never made any mortgage payments. In the process, the true owners lost the title to their homes and the banks were out the money they had loaned to fake buyers. So how can prevent your house from getting stolen? Not easily, we’re sorry to say. The best you can do at this point is to stay vigilant.
A few suggestions: * If you receive a payment book or information from a mortgage company that’s not yours, whether your name is on the envelope or not, don’t just throw it away. Open it, figure out what it says, and follow up with the company that sent it. * From time to time, it’s also a good idea to check all information pertaining to your house through your county’s deeds office. If you see any paperwork you don’t recognize or any signature that is not yours, look into it. House-stealing is not too common at this point, but we’re keeping an eye out for any major cases or developing trends. Please contact us or your local police if you think you’ve been victimized.
Stan Graham
Advanced Realty Education
Arizona Elite Properties
When it comes to bank owned homes, if the bank does not maintain the home or take steps to sell the home, or otherwise use the home, then I think there ought to be some homesteading mechanism people can use. Remember, like it our not we now own the banks. They live at the tax payer trough, it is public land as far as I am concerned.
However, what you describe is not right and the police ought to deal the situation.
Simply amazing how "Free Loaders" can spin the stories around.
This seems to be a big problem all over. My advice, when taking one of these listings, is to get all the neighbors involved. Introduce yourself around the neighborhood, and pass out your card, with the hope of getting your own little neighborhood watch going on for your vacant house.
Katerina: thanks for the post, because more than once I've shown a supposedly vacant listing that appears to have signs of habitation. Scary....who know what you could walk in on.
Jenna: I know, I know. Lazurus House, our tiny homeless shelter in town has all 47 beds full every night now. About half the beds are for kids...this center is mostly a safe haven for abused ladies and their kids. It's heartbreaking. The center is trying to expand, and each neighborhood they go into says "not here" and works to turn down a special use permit. A local community center wants to add a 20 bed emergency shelter....residents had a "candlelight vigil" there Friday night...publicity to keep the city from awarding a permit. I see both sides, but heartbreaking nonetheless.
N & K: Great work and excellent topic.
Wow, what a great society we live in and all lately caused by greed!
Ty
Time to start a home watch service...
Squatters are trespassers and loosers. Hate to say it that way but the ones I've had contact with just jump thru a window & live there until the police get after them. Just because someone leaves their house unoccupied doesn't mean someone down on their luck financially is entitled to anything! I had one foreclosure where the water was turned off & the squatters used the crawl space as a latrine!
Even here in the Hamptons: there is a huge house that was in forclosure and the agent who handles short sales was toally unaware the there were squatters living in it. I needed to show it for sale and when I got there with my customer I had a sense that we were not alone and then I got to the kitchen door and someone was cooking up a huge amount of very spicy smelling food...I looked in and there was a man over the stove and big pot of whatever it was, stirring away. the minute he saw me he ran out the door and I heard a motor bike as he drove off in a puff of smoke...it is an 8 bedroom house so I am sure there had to be a dozen or so people living in it---right in the village and no one ever saw them! The house has never sold.
"Taking possession of 1000 homes ..." I'm suprised this guy isn't trying to move in with the Obama's because The White House is also called The People's House.
I hadn't heard of anyone trying to use the adverse possession law in a long time!
We don't have any squatter problems here, unless it is a relative taking advantage of the owner, heard of one son who wouldn't leave, but he was already living there rent free when his family had to short sale the property.
The gall of some surprises me. Thank you for sharing this post.
Jenna- Comment #22-
Sometimes, I'm just at a loss for words. The smell of pot smoke in the home property you have listed, might just be that there were kids using it, as you wrote. (Did you get a "contact high" ;0) But, for someone to charge rent when they are not the owner . . . again, at a loss for words. A legimate owner of a rental unit vs. someone pretending . . . unbelieveable. Renters beware!! You encounter some of the hard core realities of this fall out.
(BTW, I notice my post is back up on the blog roll)
Carla- Was it ever off?
I've gone into homes that are for sale before and found squatters in areas where you would not expect that to happen.
It's a bit frightening to all parties involved.
Katerina,
I did read the post and I did understand the point that you were making about scammers and con artists...I get that. There are PLENTY of people out there who want to take advantage of absolutely EVERY OPPORTTUNITY to screw people over. And the more desperate the situation, the more people there are to try to capitalize on it. And I am not saying that whatever the circumstances, that anyone has the right to SQUAT in a property. Not a former owner who has been legally foreclosed, not some random person off the street...NO, I am not saying that it is RIGHT.
The purpose of my comment was to extrapolate the situation into a different direction. There have been many many posts here on AR about squatters.
You are quite correct in your statement that this is NOT THE UNITED STATES OF SOCIALISM, unless of course you are a multi-billion dollar corporation, then there is NO LIMIT to the amount of help and handouts available.
There are VERY FEW SOCIAL RESOURCES available to citizens of this country facing a TRULY DESPERATE SITUATION. I know that to be a FACT as I have worked with a displaced mothers ant their children with no job who suddenly find themselves homeless, a single man who lost his job & became homeless when his girlfriend put him out.
Believe me, there are NO EASY answers for people who find themselves in that situation. Yes, I can get the mom into a shelter with her kids for only $132 per week on a temporary basis, that would be great if she had $132 a week.
The man, yes, if he arrives at the shelter 2 hours before check in and waits in line, he might be able to take a spot in the 50 bed facility...where they do not serve any food...and he needs to be back on the street at 6am. Oh, and NO BAGS can be brought into the shelter. A single man falling on hardtimes in this country faces nearly insurmontable obstacles with very little help.
What about subsidized housing? Well, in Atlanta, the Section 8 list HAS BEEN CLOSED SINCE 2001. That's right. There is no waiting list...they are still working on the list from 9 years ago.
So, don't misunderstand my comment. I was not supporting anyone's right to be a squatter. Nor anyone's right to scam others in an already precarious situation. I am a pull yourself up by your boot straps kind of girl...I have done it many times in my own life.
My point was that our country has moved into territory that is unprecedented in our lifetimes. And we are being lied to at every turn about the severity & dire nature of our situation.
Jenna- Thank you for your clarification. :)
Gene- Well, that theory did not work out too well in the Soviet Union or in Cuba.
Katerina & Nestor,
Thank you for reading my clarification. I have a great deal of respect for you and the way that you run your business and share so much great information (including about coupons) here in the Rain.
Have a wonderful week.
Nestor,
I am far from a Red. The development and settling of America was done with Land Grants of public land and there were requirements for getting the land. You had to live on it and use it.
I do not like the situation we are in and I do not like the bank bailouts. My point is the Banks have taken from the public trough and are essentially owned by the government now, even though they claim they paid back the TARP funds.
I think the government wants to control the housing market through the banks and ultimately put us all in public housing. Having banks or government agencies rent out the houses. The government and the banks are trying to contol the market and are not moving the homes back into the private segment fast enough.
What I am saying is Bank Owned/Public Owned property not being used and becoming a blight should be open to some sort of homesteading. This will also encourage the banks to move the property back to the private segment.
You may disagree with me but please don't put me in the same boat with the Reds. I am far from it and it hurts.
Gene- I know you are not red. I send you an email.
You are right, the gov't does want to own it all and have us all pay our rent to them. That is why private property rights are being diminished more and more with each passing administration and will continue until only the elite own housing. It did not work anywhere else in the world and it won't work here. And I pray that people will get off their couches and do something about it rather than be the good sheeple the schools have taught them to be.
You are so right! We showed a condo last year that the listing office told us was "vacant". When we walked in with our client it was clearly not vacant, however, it also was evident the homeowner was not the one living there. The power and water were both turned off and the individual "living" there was using a camp stove to heat their food. We left immediately and called the listing agent to notify him of this issue. Wow, what an experience. Carrie