Haunted Houses…Literally
In the event of foreclosures or long-standing ‘For Sale’ properties, things aren’t always going to sail as smooth as they seem. Due to the peculiar nature of human beings, there’s never a set in stone safety measure that can be taken to avoid the property owners suffering beyond the scope of their house being foreclosed, or sitting on a property for months waiting for it to. That’s painful enough.
Unfortunately when you add people, poverty and/or curiosity to the mix, there’s an off-chance your property awaiting a buyer may in fact sprout an under the radar resident, or two, or three… It’s not an uncommon scenario for massive homes to host visitors without the owners being aware of it, but it gets even stranger when these squatters are able to stick around through legal loopholes. Apparently squatters have rights? More on that here–> http://www.managementtrust.com/blog/bid/94855/SQUATTER-S-RIGHTS
Another weird thing that can happen as the victim of a foreclosure is somehow getting stuck with the bill for the house you got forced out of. Yes, your foreclosure can somehow come back to haunt you…or at least your wallet. See, the way this works is that during the foreclosure process if the ownership isn’t transferred then the original owner despite their non-residency is responsible for paying property taxes and fees. Just what you need after having your house foreclosed! This is actually so common that there are nearly 2 million homes in the US that started the foreclosure process and never ended up concluding it.
Doesn’t it seem like these situations would easily be prevented with a few policy changes? You’d think there’d be a bit more care given to assuring the well-being of such large investments, no?!
Would you like to see these policies revisited to avoid potential problems down the road? Share your thoughts with us on Twitter @enviromint.
image courtesy of Sean MacEntee
