Mansion squatters in Seattle

[stevedeshazer]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/dannywestneat/2012683391_danny21.html

Mansion squatters return in a big way



By this chapter of this curious tale, Mark von der Burg surely is wondering: Why me? What did I do to deserve this?

He's the Eastside real-estate agent who, two months ago while prepping for an open house to sell a $3.3 million mansion in Kirkland, was stunned to find that complete strangers had moved in and were staking a tortured legal claim to the foreclosed property.

The squatters story went national. It was an apt symbol of the housing meltdown. At the time, I wrote that "mansion squatting" might be the "most naked expression yet of what the crash was all about — the lure of something for nothing."

Now, I swear I didn't mean the word "naked" literally. But I'll get to that twist in a minute.

Von der Burg says that while the mansion-squatting story may have been entertaining — it ended when police retook control of the house for the bank that owned it — it cost his client, a bank, $35,000 in legal fees and bills for locksmiths, security and cleanup. So count him as not amused that this week, the same team of squatters apparently attempted to stake claims to three new mansions on the Eastside — including a $2.2 million, 5,000-square-foot Craftsman in Bellevue for which von der Burg is, once again, the listing agent

[provis99]

1. can't these squatter be charged with burglary?