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Updated over 5 years ago, 04/16/2019
The Occupants from Hell!
I am currently dealing with some occupants (who are no more than squatters) and getting them out so I can get in and start the rehab has been a daunting process. Typically, I get them out with cash for keys and it is never easy, but usually effective.
In this case, I purchased the property (practically stole it on price and terms)Feb 28th of this year and am still working on getting these morons out. I offered them $6k! for keys and they did not take it. I started eviction and they have used every tactic in the book to cause delays and extend the process. On the final hour before the summary judgement hearing, one of the two occupants filed for BK causing another 45 day or so delay. Unfortunately in CA, the laws, for some stupid reason, reside with occupants and not the legal owners. (I wont even get started on politics here!)
The good news is that I was able to have summary judgement against one of the occupants and already filed for the Sherriff to remove her from the premises. Should be within the next week or so for that. The kicker is that once it happens, her boyfriend still has rights to be there (until he is finally evicted) so I am quite sure she will just come right back. When that happens, I will make damn sure I make their lives as miserable as possible for the problems they have caused me. How can I do that legally you might ask? I will have periodic visits to the property and when I see she is there, I will call the Sherriff and inform them that she is illegally trespassing on my property and I want her removed/arrested. I will do this as many times as it takes until they get the point or until summary judgement against him occurs. Either way, screw them both!!! :roll:
What comes around goes around and theirs is coming.
***Update as of today 1-31-16: 5 years and 32 thread pages later, this is still ongoing. The following link was created by a BP Member in support of my situation found on page 32 of this thread. https://www.gofundme.com/OccupantsfromHell
This was approved by the heads of BP to be live in this thread. ***
@Will Barnard Great news! Glad to hear the most recent chapter of your saga is a positive one! Would you be open to sharing photos of how the place looked at the time you purchased it vs. how it looks today (exterior)... Then as it looks when you finally get possession (exterior/interior), and how it looks when you finish the rehab?
Gotta be a lot of bad mojo there... might need an smudging or worse an exorcism! When you are done, consider painting with "haint blue". See this:
http://thelandofcolor.com/haint-blue-the-legend/
Good luck! All the best to you!
Will, I'm so happy for you that this ridiculous saga is finally coming to a close. I've been reading through the thread every so often and each time I was sickened with how long it dragged out. While it won't make up for so many of the tough times you've endured, there's one great day coming up in your very near future...the day you get to watch his a** hit the curb. Enjoy!
@Will Barnard FINALLY! Congrats to you! Now, I can't wait to see the ultimate video of this rehab!
Originally posted by @Will Barnard:
It is quite possible that this post may be mistaken for a late April's fools joke, but here it goes anyways. . . . . Today was trial on this 4+ year nightmare saga and when it was over, I was victorious. In fact, this DB and his DB attorney got absolutely hammered in court today. I can't take all the credit and neither can my attorney as the moron basically hung himself today by opening up his mouth on the record.
To make a very long story short, for the first time ever, today was the first day that someone other than myself or my attorney referred to this property as "MINE" in court and it was music to my ears! Even more satisfaction came when a long time ago court order that was never followed by the opposition was ruled and ordered again today. This guy was further ordered to pay all the holding costs (taxes, insurance, first and second mortgage payments, maintenance, etc) from the date of the order 3 years ago to today. That is well over $40k though I will likely not ever see any of it, at least it was so ordered and a judgement entered.
Some figures need to be calculated and the attorneys have until May 27 to meet and confir, then the stay of eviction is auto lifted May 29th so let the eviction begin on that date!
That's fantastic! I hope this will be the beginning of the final chapter in the eviction. I also hope you pursue this guy for the rest of his sorry life for the $40K!
Originally posted by @Frank Jiang:
That date only released the stay action allowing me to start the eviction process all over again. But even with that, another doc describing the order needed to be drafted (it has been completed) and then filed with the clerk for it to get the judge's signature. Once I get that back, I can file eviction. Should still take another couple months!
I think your judicial system is from HELL at least for landlords.
This thread is what makes me not want to live in California ever....
Originally posted by @Will Barnard:
Originally posted by @Frank Jiang:
That date only released the stay action allowing me to start the eviction process all over again. But even with that, another doc describing the order needed to be drafted (it has been completed) and then filed with the clerk for it to get the judge's signature. Once I get that back, I can file eviction. Should still take another couple months!
Hi Will, been following this thread for a while now. Just wondered if you got that doc signed by the judge yet and started the eviction...?
Good luck, hope you gain possession soon!
Originally posted by @Kimberly T.:
Originally posted by @Will Barnard:
Originally posted by @Frank Jiang:
That date only released the stay action allowing me to start the eviction process all over again. But even with that, another doc describing the order needed to be drafted (it has been completed) and then filed with the clerk for it to get the judge's signature. Once I get that back, I can file eviction. Should still take another couple months!
Hi Will, been following this thread for a while now. Just wondered if you got that doc signed by the judge yet and started the eviction...?
Good luck, hope you gain possession soon!
Yes, the paperwork was filed with the court and the eviction process has started. Just another timeline for me to wait on. . . .
Wow, @Will Barnard what an incredible story, thank you for sharing! Congrats on the decision allowing you to evict. New York has similar tenant laws, and I've heard of people buying properties at auctions and taking years trying to evict squatters in them. There are also squatters in NYC that camp out in buildings with no utilities so they can eventually try to claim ownership of the buildings through adverse possession. Scary stuff.
A few questions: What would you have done differently, if anything? I commend you for taking the high road, by the way. Would you have installed security cameras so you could see if tenants not on the lease had moved in? Would you have requested a different judge? Apparently that can be done if you don't think the judge can represent your interests well. See this thread about a professional tenant from hell and how he works the system:
https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/636...
Another question: In order to keep costs down while the squatters were there, did you ever consider refinancing (since your house had a lot more equity)? At least it could have lessened the pain a little. Are you still paying your private lender interest through all this?
I wish you luck, I can't wait to hear when you get possession of the house back! I also encourage you to go to the press about this. Most news is slanted against landlords, making investors sound like slumlords. It would benefit the whole community if investors were given a voice. I used to work at the WSJ and could try to reach out to old contacts if you're interested. States don't have an incentive to change if there isn't outrage at the current system. Imagine how many other people are going through this and we don't hear about it. Even within the court system, it seems like judges don't communicate a lot about cases.
Good luck with the eviction, the end is near! Maybe we will see you on Pacific Heights 2
Other than backing out of the deal based on a crystal ball, not much I could have done to avoid this. No way possible to request a specific or new judge. The judge assigned is the judge you get. As for refinancing, sure, I could have done that but again, would have needed a crystal ball to know this was going to take over 4 years. Then again, I bought subject to so I do have built in bank financing much less than what I pay private lenders.
- Realtor, General Contractor, and Developer
- Redding, CA & Bend OR
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I think you win the prize for the biggest nightmare story! I thought we had it bad having to deal with the property owner behind us suing to take away the legal easement we have. (just got that settled, after $40,000 in attorney fees!)
Anyway, that's nothing compared to your scenario. I hope it gets settled soon.
- Karen Margrave
congratulations!
please keep us posted on progress of this property!
I think we are all emotionally vested following you.
I have been reading this for 4 yrs myself ;)
I just read the entire thread over the last couple of hours. Its a really fantastic story. I'm closing on my second occupied REO in the next week. My first one went really well and ended with a cash for keys offer.
I do business exclusively in Virginia and it's pretty landlord friendly here. I was wondering in terms of time and/or expense how much of your saga would you attribute to each of the following?
- CA tenant/occupant friendly laws
- CA judicial inefficiency
- Professional tenant skills of the occupant
- Marriage Laws/Title transfer problems
- Missteps of your own (not that I recall any from the postings)
- Others (feel free to define)
I think (hope?) that the first two aren't much of an issue in Virginia and such limit a lot of my own personal risk in purchasing occupied properties.
I'm sure I speak for many when I say we're looking forward to continued updates.
BTW I also agree with you for not bringing the media into this. Judges do not like their procedures, rulings, etc. evaluated in the media by the court of public opinion.
Eddy
A question from a newbie,
Could all of this and the other nightmares I read about not have been avoided if you had used a professional "real estate management company" instead of trying to rent and manage the property yourself?
Originally posted by @Denny Lobach:
A question from a newbie,
Could all of this and the other nightmares I read about not have been avoided if you had used a professional "real estate management company" instead of trying to rent and manage the property yourself?
Denny,
he didn't rent the property. This was a squatter, who claimed to have been married to the previous owner.
Will was trying to flip the house. So no rental management company was relevant here, the occupant was already in the house when Will bought it.
For a buy and hold investor, a management company can help keep you insulated from the headaches of the process, but they won't eliminate the possibility of evictions.
And that convenience comes at a cost.
My own personal strategy at my current size is to acquire distressed properties, rehab them, then rent them out. I could pay more at any one of these stages to eliminate headaches, but I'd rather keep more of the profits for myself.
I hope to reach a place where my time becomes more valuable than the cost of outsourcing some or all of these but that's still a few years off in my own estimation.
Originally posted by @Denny Lobach:
A question from a newbie,
Could all of this and the other nightmares I read about not have been avoided if you had used a professional "real estate management company" instead of trying to rent and manage the property yourself?
Gueessss you didn't read the thread, huh? Congrats and welcome, I see you're two posts in!
Yes I read many of the comments on the thread, that's why I asked the question not for the pas but for the future, such as the no trial clause.
However your response didn't answer my question.????
Originally posted by @Denny Lobach:
However your response didn't answer my question.????
Huh? If you read our responses, then you would have seen that we all told you that this was not a rental and thus your question was answered.
The question you asked clearly would have not come from someone, that had read the thread, but from someone that read little bits and pieces and then made assumptions.....and you know where that leads...
Originally posted by @Denny Lobach:
Yes I read many of the comments on the thread, that's why I asked the question not for the pas but for the future, such as the no trial clause.
However your response didn't answer my question.????
Sorry to be blunt but your question wasn't valid. How would a property management company prevent squatters in a property you just bought? That's like asking if a home warranty would've prevented squatters.
Also, don't forget, this is in California, which is notoriously tenant-friendly.
Originally posted by @Denny Lobach:
I thought the idea was to "invest' not buy yourself a different job than the one you were hoping to leave!
For me investor YES ...landlord... NOOOOO!
To be honest, you're really quite insulting to Will.
You come here as a total beginner and are trying to tell a long-time investor that he's made mistakes with this property, when you didn't even read the thread. And in fact, your continuing answers show that you either can't wrap your ego around to having been wrong and are still insisting that this has something to do with landlording, when we've told you repeatedly, that this is not what it was about.
It would behoove you to learn about real estate first, before you come in here and make assumptions that make you appear.....let's say ignorant at best
@Eddy Dumire @Troy Sheets @Michaela G. - please don't feed the troll.
Just finished reading the Airbnb thread. If I were him I wouldn't mess with you. You'll find every skeleton he thought he had hidden :)
Eddy