Any Squatter Stories?

I do! When I was rehabbing my Sunset home that took a good year (hey, choosing matching tile is hard work…) a serial squatter managed to stay in my place for a short time. Unbelievable… I guess he managed to take a long ladder, get onto the roof and come through the upper bathroom window where there was a roof landing. Dude had the nerve to bring in a tv and some basic cookware. When I realized that someone was staying, I planned for a stakeout during a work day (not weekend when I guess he knew people would be around) and called the cops instead of going in unannounced. Sure enough, the police go in and out comes this reasonably well dressed European guy. Apparently, this guy was a serial squatter in the Sunset. How do I know? The exact same guy was found squatting a buddies remodel a year or two later…

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  1. It’s possibly legal?
  2. The author is clearly trying to generate sympathy for these people
  1. If they make it to 5 years it becomes legal. The worst they can be charged with before 5 years is trespassing.
  2. Of course he is trying to generate sympathy for these people. They are not just squatting in the houses. They are fixing them up similar to what a flipper would do to a uninhabitable property. If they pay the property taxes on them it is a win-win situation.
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I’m pretty sure a squatter burned down an Atherton home a couple of years ago. It wasn’t one of the Mansions–it was an original 2BR 1600 sq ft kind of thing–but pretty scary anyways.

Hasn’t been rebuilt, so it is now a flattened eyesore. I feel sorry for the neighbors.

Let’s investigate who owns abandoned homes in this country but doesn’t live here at all. And occupy them, problem fixed. :laughing:

Forget about free market, that thing is being destroyed anyway. Amazon is a target of it now.

Many squatters I encountered. One time I was flipping a condo in Concord, went in there and found a lesbian couple there sleeping together in the closet floor. I guess I accidentally opened the closet door and interrupted their love making session… :upside_down_face:

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Ewwww. was the condo address 444 4th Street, Unit #4 too???:grinning:

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It’s time for them to come out of the closet.

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What did you do after? Where’s part 2 of this story? :rofl:

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He said, don’t mind me…I’ll just pull out this folding chair and have my drink break

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“He founded an organization called Land Action to help other squatters learn and defend their rights.”

Just another case of criminals trying to get more rights than law-abiding citizens.

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so can we just find an old lonely person, and wait until they pass away (Hopefully, peacefully), and just move right in and hope they have no heirs?

Yes, and make sure he lives in Palo Alto… :blush:

got it. where’s that public database agan? propertyshark? propertyradar?

That would be good start… :laughing:

sounds lucrative. I’m taking investments.

I believe in theory you would have to be current on the property taxes (granted if old person probably low anyway) for a number of years too in order to gain property via adverse possession. Here is an old story that I posted on here years ago…

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Isn’t this the guy you found at your place?

No, but he (mine) was fairly clean cut and dressed better than I was that day… sad. More sad is that the police pretty much just slapped him on the wrist and said don’t do this again and of course he just goes to the next house remodel…

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