Recently, Randy Quaid brought the illegal act of squatting into mainstream news, but really, there’s nothing new about it. Apparently squatting in really expensive homes has hit the news in a lot of major areas in the US. Some squatters are even able to get the utilities turned on and brazen enough to move all of their belongings into the house and make it their home. Squatting is becoming a big problem in major US cities. Continue reading
Category Archives: Real Estate Horror Stories
Selling Property in Perth Is Easier Than You’d Think
Owner’s property sold without his knowledge by scammers. At least they used a real estate agent.
Apparently it’s pretty easy to sell houses in Perth, Australia, as one property owner found out when he discovered his $485,000 investment property had been sold by scammers posing as the property’s owners. The sale occurred in June 2010 and was conducted by a series of emails and phone calls claiming the owner needed to sell his duplex due to financial hardship. Continue reading
Dead Body Found In Open House
Image created by Simon Howden, provided courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
No, this isn’t a home staging consultant’s tribute to Halloween. The owner actually died in the house and the agent was the first on the scene, showing the home to a potential buyer. In Texas, if the owner died of natural causes, you don’t have to disclose it. However, in this case, that buyer will probably figure it out without reading the disclosure statement. Continue reading
Trashing Foreclosed Homes
The banks aren’t the only ones hurt when foreclosed homeowners vandalize their homes before being kicked out. See how far some actually go to get back at the bank. Find out who the real victims are, besides the bank. Continue reading
Buyers are to Blame for the Real Estate Housing Bubble
It just baffles me how people want to blame bankers, real estate agents, loan officers, appraisers, etc.. for the real estate bubble. The real estate bubble, just like any other bubble was caused by a frenzied increase in demand from a new influx of buyers willing to pay more to obtain the desired item. The bubble bursts when everyone realizes what they’re doing doesn’t make sense and also realize that the price for their coveted item is unjustifiably too high. Throughout history, there are several examples of this happening. The examples I’ll focus on are: Continue reading
Google, Trulia, Zillow and Realtor.com Now Offer Misery Searches
I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to go through a foreclosure. Just imagine the humiliation if everyone you knew found out about your foreclosure? Now you don’t have to imagine it, you can Google it! Google now gives you the ability to search for foreclosures on Google Maps. Not only is Google Maps offering misery mapping options, but Zillow.com, Trulia.com, and Realtor.com are offer foreclosure searches too. Continue reading
Banks Are Abandoning Foreclosed Homes Too
Homeowners aren’t the only ones making an investment decision to walk away from their mortgages. Apparently banks are walking away from their abandoned properties too. Banks that hold properties that suffer from deferred maintenance, vandalism, or declining property values may cost more to foreclose, manage and sell than the property is worth. In situations like these, many banks are a choosing to abandon the vacated property and consider it a loss. Continue reading
Bombs Found In Two Houses
Image created by Graur Razvan Ionut, courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
In District Heights, Maryland, a real estate agent was inspecting a recently foreclosed home and found what appeared to be two pipe bombs left in the basement, believed to be left by the previous owner. In an effort to retaliate against the bank, he is suspected of booby-trapping the house with two explosive devices. The real estate agent called the bomb squad and the devices were disposed of. So, while buying your next foreclosure, you’d better get a home inspection, termite inspection, foundation inspection and now, a bomb inspection too. Continue reading
Squatters Destroy Newlywed Couple’s Dream Home
You’ve saved up for years to buy a house, you find the home of your dreams, buy it and get ready to move in only to find out that there’s a squatter living in it. It happened to Zael Zura and his fiancee Veronica Botts when they bought their dream home and discovered on move-in day that alleged serial squatter, James McClung, was living there posing as a renter. Notice I said “serial squatter” because this vagrant has pulled this scam several times before and is probably pulling it even as we speak. The home that he targeted was a recently renovated bank-owned home in Shoreline, Washington. Zura and Botts put an offer on that home on the day Zura proposed to Botts. They discovered the vagrant 10 days before closing, when Zura drove by the house, that was supposed to be vacant, and found strangers living in their enchanted newlywed cottage. This was the same day as their engagement party too. What a way to ruin a celebration. Continue reading
OneWest Bank Discovered How To Profit From A Short Sale – Sell It Twice
Apparently OneWest Bank found a way to profit from short sales. OneWest Bank sold a home to two separate parties a few days apart. Then they cashed both of their checks. Amazingly enough, the total of both sales comes really close to what was owed on the home mortgage. Coincidence? Now both “owners” are fighting it out to see who really owns it. Continue reading