Contractor · Franklinville, NJ · Member since 2013 · 183 posts · 86 votes
I figured I would stop hijacking @rob k's thread and start my own about my squatter. For those who didn't read about my issue, I have a squatter living in a shed on a property I bought. The squatter was claiming rights to the land. I filed for ejectment and had court today. It was great watching the judge shoot down everything he said.
That being said, he now has 30 days to get all of his stuff out. The judge asked how much time he needed to get himself and his belongings out and the man replied "well over 90 days" to which the judge laughed. All in all, it was a learning situation that only cost me $39 to date. We shall see if he is actually gone in 30 days. I will report back.
My plan as of now is to just roll with what is already in motion. I cannot imagine it taking much longer as he has appealed to the highest form of court that he can (according to the court officer).
You started this thread in December and it's now March. Have you read Will Barnard's Occupants From Hell thread that he started in June 2011 when he started with the squatters in Feb 2011 and is still ongoing. This is over 3 years later he is dealing with this. So hopefully you don't wind up eating your words.
I have not read that thread yet. I have been avoiding it because I know I will relate to the frustration. I try to keep this situation out of my head as much as possible because it keeps me awake at night. I am also dealing with a lousy contractor on my duplex and I am at my wits end with people right now. I'm trying to hold on to the hope I have for my real estate career but not one thing I have done has been even remotely easy.
Nothing as of yet. I called the appellate division to check on the status of his appeal and they told me to file a "notice of motion to accelerate appeal" so that was done. I also have court on the 24th regarding the harassment charges he filed on me. I may have to postpone that as I have to make a trip to texas for work soon. I will update everyone afterwards.
I didn't quite catch it, but is this just vacant/bare land with a shed on it, or is there a building or any improvements on it? What would happen if you turned on a high powered sprinkler aimed at the shed and flood him out? Or set up a bunch of fans around/at the shed to stir up a lot of noise and dust (or anything that would help him want to leave)? Or better yet, go to your local Home Depot and pay cash to some illegals to come remove the shed from the property...
Contractor · Franklinville, NJ · Member since 2013 · 183 posts · 86 votes
12y
@Marcia Maynard no he Isn't gone yet. I actually put aside my pride and went and had a "civilized" conversation with the man. He said if I help him move his stuff he will go willingly. Now the issue is that he has nowhere to move his stuff to. Meanwhile court is still at a standstill. I have been concentrating on other projects while waiting for this to pan out. Trust me, the day he is gone I will be updating this post.
@Marcia Maynard no he Isn't gone yet. I actually put aside my pride and went and had a "civilized" conversation with the man. He said if I help him move his stuff he will go willingly. Now the issue is that he has nowhere to move his stuff to. Meanwhile court is still at a standstill. I have been concentrating on other projects while waiting for this to pan out. Trust me, the day he is gone I will be updating this post.
Be careful with that. I once moved an entire house full of crap into storage for some holdover tenants. They agreed to move if I moved their stuff. These people had no money, no cars, no credit cards and no driver's licenses. So I hired two guys, rented a huge moving van and rented a storage area. After two days of grueling, disgusting work everything was out of the house. The tenants went back inside and locked the door. They weren't going anywhere. I was scheduled to close, and my buyer really wanted it to close on time so I discounted the price so he could do a legal eviction.
If your squatter has no resources to make other living arrangements (mental, physical, emotional), he's not going anywhere, even if he has no stuff.
Yes, the squatter is actually in jail on assault charges. The court is supposed to be posting the "writ of possession" this week in which case I can move all of his stuff out. I didn't want to post anything until the building was on the ground because the way my luck is going I would jinx myself. Almost one year to the day of dealing with this and I SHOULD finally be able to use my property. Hard lesson learned, get it in writing that the property is unoccupied and check every orifice of a building for someone living there...
Real Estate Investor · atlanta, GA · Member since 2013 · 456 posts · 237 votes
11y
@Charlie Hampton - I absolutely hate this for you but am glad it appears to be coming to a conclusion and that you can get on with your project.
I got a bunch of requests for the super soaker story so here it is. Our client had purchased a property on a transitioning portion of Moreland Avenue in atlanta. We had been to the property several times to bid the repairs and noticed quite a few people milling about but no one was ever seen inside the building. Our client closed on a Thursday and our work crew headed in on Monday morning to start working only to discover that over the weekend crackheads & heroin users had entered the building. One room was full of mattresses, another had personal possessions, the plumbing didn't work so they turned a room into a public restroom complete with poop all over the floor and needles were found throughout the property. All of this was done in a few days time.
We got it cleaned up and, after chatting with some neighborhood folks, we discovered that the low wall to the side of our property was a drug market with several dealers selling different things. Bear in mind that this property was surrounded by new $400k homes. Around dusk, I returned to the property and found a few people milling around the rear of the house. I got out of my truck carrying a super soaker squirt gun. One of the druggies made a comment "aww isn't that cute, he brought his squirt gun" but his opinion changed when the squirt he got smelled like gasoline. I said "that's not water" and broke out a lighter...adding that I didn't smoke. I told them that I didn't want anyone else breaking into the property and that if they saw a balls of flames running from the house at some point in the night...not to worry, it's just one of your friends who didn't listen.
Extreme....yup. It takes that kind of approach to deal with inner city properties sometimes. I don't sleep a ton anyway so I continued to make random visits to the property until our work there was completed. We never had anymore issues with the drugheads....like most losers, they simply moved off to an easier mark. If you own properties and are a landlord, it's salesman's odds before you run into some sort of situation like these. If your answer is to run to the lawyer....which you can do....it will get expensive quickly and may not resolve your situation any faster. Here, there wasn't a real solution without spending some money and getting the squatter relocated somewhere else. It would have been cheaper to buy him a bus ticket to the town of his choice, give him some cash for his vacation and bid him farewell....although from the sounds of it, this guy would have preferred to continue on right where he was...there is often no way to reason with mental illness, drugs or just plain stupidity.
That is a great story! Had I known then what I know now I never would have brought this to court and I would have had it handled in other ways. Live and learn I suppose.
That is a great story! Had I known then what I know now I never would have brought this to court and I would have had it handled in other ways. Live and learn I suppose.
Your squatter is a cry baby/gadfly known to the authorities in your town, and the son of your neighbors. You would have gone to jail if you sprayed anyone with gasoline. Don't let one sensational story cloud your judgement. :)
Contractor · Franklinville, NJ · Member since 2013 · 183 posts · 86 votes
11y
UPDATE: Squatter is gone, and building is demolished!
I know that I have not heard the last of this man, he will probably try to raise some hell when he gets out of jail. However this does not concern me as long as my project can go uninterrupted now.
To answer everyones dying question, there was a 5 gallon bucket in the corner for him to do his business in. Also there was several kerosene heaters in there and the ceilings were black as a result. The extension cord running into the building had about 5 surge protectors plugged into it powering different lights and 4 TV's.
Some other interesting things found: massive amounts of porn, jui jitsu trophies, stacks of law books and everyones favorite "Rich dad poor dad" collection of books. Oh and also an Armando Montelongo dvd (no dvd player anywhere?) so that proves he was definitely a real estate guru. Also found a metric ton of papers regarding past and present lawsuits.
To top it all off, the mans brother and father came over when I was demo'ing the building and were nice as pie.
Thank you everyone for your support and words of encouragement. This site is truly amazing in bringing all of these likeminded people together to solve problems.
Flipper · Port Deposit, MD · Member since 2014 · 280 posts · 171 votes
11y
Congratulations on your success!
I'm trying to imagine myself enjoying a life where I live in a shed, I poop in a bucket, and I pleasure myself all day long in between time spent educating myself on how to keep on doing it all at the expense of someone else.
Real Estate Investor · Somerset, KY · Member since 2011 · 211 posts · 64 votes
11y
@Charlie Hampton I am sure glad you resolved the issue, definitely an interesting story, but I hate that for anyone. Just goes to show powerful knowledge in the wrong hands is as dangerous as a loaded gun. Rock on! Loved the Guru line.. :)
I cant imagine living any aspect of that life either. Oh, btw, I forgot to mention that when loading his things into a storage unit (packed a 10x10 to the ceiling somehow?) I made sure to put all of his court documents at the very back of the unit. Hopefully this is give some of his other victims some time off from him. There is no current law on how you're supposed to properly organize a storage unit, correct?
Update: As of today, the squatter is still in place. He has filed appeals in civil and law courts. He has filed an appeal to the appellate division, and today I learned that he has filed in superior court. I cannot help but think this man is getting legal advice from someone. He has also filed a $40k lawsuit against me for slander (since I called him a squatter, which is defamatory to his reputation) and he has also filed criminal harassment charges on me (because I bother him oh so much). Every time I feel like I am at the end I receive more paperwork with more court dates. This situation truly stinks. ATTN EVERYONE: PLEASE CHECK EVERY ORIFICE OF A PROPERTY BEFORE YOU SIGN PAPERS! I don't wish this situation on my worst enemy...
This is the craziest thing I've ever heard. I agree with PPs; I can't believe that they even gave this guy 30 days to leave. Good luck getting rid of him! I may have missed this but is there any reason you haven't just unplugged his cord?