{"id":1634,"date":"2014-05-01T08:29:33","date_gmt":"2014-05-01T12:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/?p=1634"},"modified":"2019-07-03T06:53:54","modified_gmt":"2019-07-03T10:53:54","slug":"squatters-and-real-estate-a-reality-in-todays-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/2014\/05\/01\/squatters-and-real-estate-a-reality-in-todays-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Squatters and real estate – a reality in today’s economy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"House\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Although some squatters move into vacant homes to live rent free, others do so to take advantage of adverse possession laws. The squatter movement has grown, not just in the U.S. but significantly in Europe as a means of social change. Activists advocate squatting as a response to Europe\u2019s high unemployment, austerity, decreased public housing and declining living standards. Currently touted as \u201calternative housing,\u201d squatting in the U.S. increased during the time when foreclosures and vacant homes skyrocketed after the financial crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent story, about squatters taking over the Florida home of an active duty soldier who is stationed in Hawaii, highlights a recent trend. According to Florida\u2019s WFLA Channel 8<\/a>, the home owner claimed people broke into his home and changed the locks; however, the squatters who moved into the soldier\u2019s home claimed to have a verbal agreement with the home\u2019s caretaker to live in the home while making repairs. When the Afghanistan veteran planned to moved back to Florida, he was caught off guard when he was told removing the squatter was a civil matter and had to go through the eviction process to rid the home of the invaders. As the story gained national attention, veteran groups hired an attorney to begin eviction. However, it appears that the combined pressure has facilitated the squatters\u2019 departure; but not without making a statement of their own by leaving the home in disarray and their dogs to roam freely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two local cases of squatting were reported last year, where defendants claimed \u201csovereign rights.\u201d A vacant, bank owned Waldorf home was reported to be occupied by seven individuals who claimed to have the right to occupy the home because they are \u201csovereign citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A March 18, 2013 Washington Post article (\u2018Moorish American national\u2019 charged with trying to take mansion<\/a><\/em>) highlighted the other case, where an individual also claiming sovereign rights moved into a vacant $6 million Bethesda home listed for sale. The squatter allegedly attempted to change the tax records to indicate he was the owner by appearing at the Montgomery County court house and presenting \u201chistorical\u201d documents and maps. But the county clerk turned him away saying that a \u201cproper deed\u201d was needed for such a change. The squatter reportedly went as far as emailing the listing agent cryptically claiming ownership. According to news reports, the squatters in both local cases were charged by police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bethesda case emphasizes that bank owned foreclosures are not the only homes occupied by squatters, vacant homes listed for sale are also targets. Nationwide reports about squatters in upper bracket luxury homes<\/a> increased last year, as well as the attention to \u201csquatter\u2019s rights\u201d and adverse possession laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last July, Sheree R. Curry of AOL Real Estate (Squatters Beware: States Are Revising Adverse Possession Laws<\/em>) highlighted the case of a squatter who moved into a Boca Raton, FL mansion listed for sale. The squatter was eventually \u201clocked out\u201d of the home, but the events moved the community in an effort to change Florida\u2019s Adverse Possession laws. And although adverse possession laws vary throughout the country, Curry reported that some states are revising these laws to protect home owners. New York and Washington had already changed adverse possession laws when Florida changed theirs to prohibit “acquiring title to real property by possession\u201d<\/em>; which went effect July 1st<\/sup> 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

by Dan Krell \u00a9 2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Protected<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Disclaimer<\/a>. This article is not intended to provide nor should it be relied upon for legal and financial advice. Readers should not rely solely on the information contained herein, as it does not purport to be comprehensive or render specific advice. Readers should consult with an attorney regarding local real estate laws and customs as they vary by state and jurisdiction. Using this article without permission is a violation of copyright laws. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although some squatters move into vacant homes to live rent free, others do so to take advantage of adverse possession laws. The squatter movement has grown, not just in the U.S. but significantly in Europe as a means of social change. Activists advocate squatting as a response to Europe\u2019s high unemployment, austerity, decreased public housing … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Squatters and real estate – a reality in today’s economy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[736,172,234,130,13],"tags":[1009,884,893,625,624,797,737,826],"class_list":["post-1634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adverse-possession","category-bank-owned-home","category-economy","category-luxury-real-estate","category-real-estate","tag-adverse-possession","tag-bank-owned-home","tag-economy","tag-luxury-homes","tag-luxury-real-estate-2","tag-real-estate","tag-squatters","tag-vacant-home"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1VZLf-qm","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1634"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5085,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1634\/revisions\/5085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dankrell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}