In alt.home.repair, on Tue, 13 Feb 2024 17:09:05 GMT,
Yes, the article seems dubious, and alarmist, seems to be describing
trespassers, rather than those who have the legal rights that squatters
have in many places.
Which is not to say that one shouldn't keep track of his rental
properties, and make sure if you think they are vacant that they are
really vacant. At the same time, you shouldn't rent to shleppers who
can't really pay the rent, because they are just the sort who will hold
over and refuse to leave when they run out of money. Real estate is a
great investiment when it works, but a big burden when it doesn't.
Stocks and bonds are a lot simpler. I may have mentioned my SIL, who
bought businesses in 2 cities she doesn't even live in or go to. Not
places to live but still a big mistake to try to own a business you
can't supervise. Oh, she also didn't renew her COA in an apartment
above a restaurant she owned, and it was too late to renew it and she
lost the right to live there. (I guess because it was a restaurant
first, they required a COA to live there.) She also , earlier, bought
the place on time, spent 100,000 in remodeling, and then I guess missed
a payment, so the seller was going to take it back including all the
remodeling. I don't know how much she paid to get out of that one. All
these examples point to the same point: If you're going to be in
business (includilng finance and real estate), you have to pay close
attention to the business you're in. But I digress.
The example in the article above where the surgeon was on the lam is a
good example of someone not in a position to pay attention to his vacant
property and probably didn't take the time to hire a management company
before he fled. Try not to be a fugitive. (though my brother, who
has had only one rental property, the apartment he lived in before he
got married, and he hired someone to rent it, collect the rent etc. and
the guy was embezzling from my brother. He ended up in jail for this.)
https://www.american-apartment-owners-association.org/property-management/latest-news/squatters-rights-law/
My friend, F, who was over 45 at the time, had let a high-school
class-mate, not even a close friend, stay in the farmhouse he had
bought, while F was remodeling it for him and his wife. He stayed there
for free, and I wouldn't be surprised if my friend paid for the water,
heat, and electricity all that time, and when the house was ready for F
and his wife to move in, the supposed friend wouldn't move out. But he
was there legally in the first place.
F had to hire a lawyer, go to court. Somehow the other guy got a
lawyer, free I think but not a public defender (who don't work on civil
cases anyway) and they finally got him out, and he moved to some sort
of room at a playground equipment store nearby. (They sell especially
small stuff that one could put in his back yard, plus stoves and sheds.
Maybe he lived in one of their sheds.) They must have agreed to take
him before they found out where he'd been before. He stayed there for a
couple months at least but somehow set the place on fire. Didn't do that
much damage but I think they made him move out after that. Don't know
where he went.