What a brother. Smh. Squatter.

[Tyler O.]

Came across this in our local news out here in Hawaii. What a piece of work. http://www.kitv.com/clip/12218152/accused-squatter-opens-door-to-kitv

[Michael Mazzella]

Thanks for sharing, @Tyler O.!

It's sad to see a fellow investor get jerked around like this. This is one area we, as RE investors, are at somewhat of a disadvantage. The law often favors wayward tenants, squatters, professional tenants. It shouldn't.. they are stealing in this case, and doing it knowingly. But they have to make the case in court, and as we know, that can take months. Meanwhile the 'professional tenant' lives for free, at your expense. When you finally prevail, and evict him legally, he goes and does it again, to somebody else. These professional tenants often know the law better than you do.

Sometimes the bad guy wins.

I had to deal with this once, many years ago, in Hawaii. A squatter moved into a condo I was flipping, while I was away on vacation. I had just finished the renovations, and was excited to get it on the market so I could finally get paid. He had been there for 3 weeks, and he had the phone hooked up in his name. I was younger, less experienced, and having a bad week. I did not handle it the correct way (going through the courts to obtain the proper eviction), but I did handle it the fun way. Knowing they would likely return at any minute, my friends and I boxed up all of his ****, put it in storage, and my locksmith changed the locks. Within about 40 minutes, I retook possession of my property. In doing so, I'm sure I violated a whole bunch of city ordinances and laws. I remember thinking I 'd rather spend the night in jail, than to have this guy and his family screw me over like that. He finally showed up, and I confronted him, but it was anti-climatic. "I thought my uncle paid you." He asked me if he could get his stuff back. I said, "When you pay me the 3 weeks rent that you stole, then you can look me in the eye and talk like a man. Meanwhile your stuff is safe in storage." Of course I never heard from him after that. After 30 days, we donated all the stuff to charity. Even as I was doing it, I knew it was wrong. Today, I'm a bit wiser, and I would take the hit, and just go thru legal channels. That squatter just picked the wrong week to mess with me. DISCLAIMER: Don't try this at home. 

Sometimes the good guys win. ;-)

~Michael