(The Economic Collapse Blog)—Squatting has always been a problem, especially in certain parts of the nation, but now it is happening on an industrial scale all over America. Thanks to online listings, it is easier than ever to identify properties that are vacant, and many states have laws that make it exceedingly difficult to get squatters out once they have settled in. In some cases, squatters are able to live rent free in beautiful homes for months or even years. This is becoming an absolutely massive problems, especially in certain areas of the country. For example, it is being reported that squatters have taken over approximately 1,200 homes in the Atlanta area…
Squatters are ruining entire neighborhoods in Atlanta and police response to evict is so slow, some homeowners have resorted to paying nuisances to leave.
Brazen squatters even opened an illegal strip club on a property they had taken over — one of the 1,200 homes which has been squatted in the city, according to the National Rental Home Council (NRHC) trade group.
“I’d be terrified in Atlanta to lease out one of my properties,” Matt Urbanski, who manages a local home-cleaning company, told Bloomberg.
There is no way in the world that I would want to own a rental property in that city.
If you can believe it, there is even one company that has been running ads on social media offering to find a prime squatter home in Atlanta for you for a fee…
At first glance, it looks just like another real estate pro hustling to rent homes on social media.
But at 1 Time Payment Homes, the site makes it clear these are squatter homes and spells out just what that means in a pinned Insta story.
“The company’s owners will come out, so will the police. The police will tell you there’s nothing they can do about it — squatters rights,” our Channel 2 producer J.P. read off the Instagram account.
Recently, 1 Time Payment Homes has actually been running a “New Year’s special”.
$1,400 will get you the keys to a squatter home so that you can “stack money and turn ya life around”.
Whoever is behind 1 Time Payment Homes should be in prison.
But that is not how America works in 2024
Instead, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone gave those behind 1 Time Payment Homes some type of award. Of course it isn’t just in Atlanta where squatting has become such a widespread issue.
In the state of Washington, squatters have taken over an entire apartment complex and have turned it into a den of crime…
Squatters and crime are taking over a Fife apartment complex. Families and the people handling the property are both beyond frustrated.
The problems are at the Sherwood Park Apartments. Police say the situation also attracted a ton of criminal activity. Now officers regularly patrol the area because of all the problems.
Most of the units at the complex are covered in plywood.
“It’s bad,” said Angel, a resident at the apartments. “The cops are here 24/7. Every day, every night. I keep my kids inside. I don’t let them out.”
Thanks to the absurd laws in that state, it isn’t going to be easy to get those squatters out.
California also has ridiculous laws, and right now “a very sophisticated criminal ring of squatters” is making a ton of money from the Beverly Hills mansion that they have occupied…
A Beverly Hills mansion seized by the court from a fugitive surgeon behind California’s biggest insurance fraud scheme is now a wild party house taken over by squatters, who are profiting off of regular ragers that are driving neighbors nuts.
The Mediterranean estate at 1316 Beverly Grove, listed for $4.5 million has been occupied by “a very sophisticated criminal ring of squatters,” the home’s listing agent John A. Woodward IV tells Los Angeles magazine. The squatters, he believes, are earning upwards of $30,000 a month renting rooms and hosting huge house parties with $100 entry fees.
This sort of thing is happening all over the nation, but the worst problems are in blue states with laws that are very favorable for squatters.
Every single day, predatory squatters are scanning online listings in order to identify their next targets…
It’s also gotten easier for squatters to find homes to move into.
Online listings and virtual real estate agents can allow squatters to find vacant addresses and gain access by booking fake appointments.
Some people may not even know they are squatters as scam artists can set up fake listings for empty properties and fake lease agreements.
Once a squatter is in, it’s hard to get them out. It can take three months to get a court hearing for an eviction, and another three months to get a deputy or marshal to clear out the home.
What these squatters are doing is so wrong, but it is getting worse with each passing year.
Meanwhile, things just get harder and harder for people that are trying to do things the right way. In recent years, many have seen rental prices skyrocket to absolutely insane levels…
Single mom Caitlyn Colbert watched as rent for her two-bedroom apartment doubled, then tripled and then quadrupled over a decade in Denver — from $750 to $3,374 last year.
Every month, like millions of Americans, Colbert juggled her costs. Pay rent or swim team fees for one of her three kids. Rent or school supplies. Rent or groceries. Colbert, a social worker who helps people stay financially afloat, would often arrive home to notices giving her 30 days to pay rent and a late fee or face eviction.
“Every month you just gotta budget and then you still fall short,” she said, adding what became a monthly refrain: “Well, this month at least we have $13 left.”
The worse that housing affordability becomes, the more people are going to be tempted to engage in squatting.
Of course this squatting crisis is just one of the ways that our society is descending into complete and utter lawlessness.
We wanted a society where anything goes, and now that is precisely what we have got.
If you need to leave your home for a while, you may want to lock it up very tight, because there are plenty of squatters that would love to invade while you are gone.
Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can check out his new Substack newsletter right here.
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