Their ‘utopia’ isn’t real…
In the latest episode on Democrat Urban Utopia, squatters are reportedly taking over hundreds of Atlanta homes, terrorizing neighbors, and even opening an illegal strip club.
Police response to evict the squatters is so delayed that some desperate homeowners have actually bribed the intruders to leave, according to the New York Post. Whole neighborhoods have been ruined by the horde of squatters. Local home-cleaning company manager Matt Urbanski emphasized the severity of the crisis, saying, “I’d be terrified in Atlanta to lease out one of my properties.”
Full article, HERE.
This seems to be almost ‘epidemic’ in a lot of blue cities, including Austin, TX which is definitely a blue enclave in red Texas.
I would also say this is at least partially the fault of these corporate real estate companies that buy up homes then raise the prices to the point that they are vacant for longer periods of time, leaving them ‘ripe’ for squatters.
But they aren’t the only ones. Sadly, some of these squatters also check the papers and obituaries, looking for homes of those who’ve passed away with no family local.
Since this a more or less ‘family friendly’ blog, I won’t say what I think of the squatters, nor what I’d do to get rid of them. We had a few rental houses when I was growing up, and I remember what happened with the occasional bad tenants we had, and why those houses were sold as quickly as they were…
Today, I wouldn’t own a rental house on a bet…
I work in a big box store back in windows and doors. Landlords are commonly replacing doors, lots of them. So to are the housing authority people in our area.
There are good rental markets if you can get them, such as being close to a hospital and renting to visiting nurses. Read a book on renting. Basically, it said you succeed or fail based on your ability to take on only responsible renters.
My brother rented property for a while.
He only accepted referrals from existing, good renters.
A co-worker rented. He insisted on picking up the rent in-person. That way he laid eyes on the property and the tenants once-a-month and he was a “real person” to the renters and not “sum rich dude from Okemos”
These days being picky about whom you rent to will get you in trouble for “Discrimination”.
Hey Old NFO.
I read the local fishwrapper because I live in the ATL area and yes it is bad, the prices are very high on rental properties due to blackrock and other groups and also there are cases of people being deployed and squatters moving in and they have more rights then the owners. The joys of living in a “blue City ya know”.
Xoph- Yeah, learned THAT lesson… grrr
ERJ- That is a great way to do it, however, I was 500 miles away and the ‘property manager’ was supposed to be checking the condo on a regular basis. Found out she’d done is TWICE in six months and never gone inside!
Dr. M- Point!
Bob- Yep!
Makes you wonder what is going on…. because there is no profit in empty rental properties. Maybe more speculation on property values rising?
My suspicion is that the company looked at their plans and got money from investors and isn’t following up – they got their fees and investment money and they don’t care after that.
I’d be curious if they are keeping up on property taxes, utilities, etc.
“These days being picky about whom you rent to will get you in trouble for “Discrimination”.”
A friend has houses in No. CA that he rents. The distant ones he rents “whole house”. The close ones he rents by the room. He only bought 5 bdrm houses. He makes more by the room, but the aggravation tends to be greater.
The troublemakers tend to fall into that above noted group, even though the percentage of renters is much smaller.
One of the unexpected costs of being a landlord here is that if one takes a renter to small claims court for damage to the property, the court always sides with the renter. I was astounded at what the judge expected the landlord to spend on maintenance, just to excuse the actions of a renter.
Reminds me, NEVER rent to anyone who is related to a lawyer, as the judge will apply the “good ole’ boys” discount to his decisions, which can get costly.