Squatting in McMansions

[eridani]

http://www.readersupportednews.org/news-section2/320-80/3407-squatters-moving-into-upscale-neighborhoods

On the big screen, actor Randy Quaid may be best known for his mooching, move-in-and-never-leave character "Cousin Eddie" from National Lampoon's "Vacation" films. Last weekend, he allegedly followed his own Hollywood script.

Quaid and his wife, Evi, were arrested Saturday after they were found living in a guest house on a million-dollar, Montecito, Calif., property Quaid once owned. While Quaid claims his name remains on the deed, the actor and his wife were jailed until they were able to post $10,000 bail.

Quaid is hardly alone in his distinctly post-bubble legal trouble. Such high-end "mansion squatting" has becomg an increasingly visible irritant in or near Seattle, St. Louis, Chicago and Los Angeles and probably elsewhere, industry experts say.

And the trend appears to be growing, as the housing bust means thousands of mansions around the country are languishing on the market, often under the control of banks that have foreclosed on them.

"It's immoral but I do understand, logically, how people get this idea in their heads," said Tara-Nicholle Nelson, a former Bay Area broker agent and now a consumer educator for the real estate website Trulia.com. "I also think this happens a lot more than we know."

Luxury homes that are for sale or foreclosed are often unoccupied and under the care of asset managers who typically may be responsible for a lengthy list of idle properties. Many mansions are isolated, walled, cloaked by trees or otherwise hard for passersby to see.

[OneGrassRoot]

1. Immoral?

"It's immoral but I do understand, logically, how people get this idea in their heads," said Tara-Nicholle Nelson."

I believe it's immoral to HAVE thousands and thousands of McMansions....let alone EMPTY McMansions....while millions are without shelter.

:puke:

[eridani]

2. +10 n/t

[CountAllVotes]

3. these "professionals" that I know ...

They are having to sell 3 of their 5 McMansions, one of which appears to have been sold for a paltry $2 million. It must be rough huh? :sarcasm:

I have no sympathy for these people that bought all of these big houses during the past 10 years. There are only 3 people involved in the above case. Why do they need a house with 5 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms? Beats the hell out of me! :puke:

:kick: for the McMansionless' out there.

[Merlot]

8. That "immoral" quote caught my attention too

Pot, meet kettle.

[TexasObserver]

4. I am not troubled by prior owners squatting in foreclosed homes.

I'm not troubled by people who squat in the home they have been living in. If they're not removed by the entity foreclosing, the truth is they're probably helping the foreclosing entity. Nothing attracts vandals and other problem visitors like a vacant, foreclosed property.

Staying over doesn't give the people legal status, but when it was their home and they've merely stayed over, I am not troubled. That's desperate people in desperate times doing what they can to stay alive. It's kind of like those people in New Orleans who broke into stores to get food and supplies. Illegal? Yes. Immoral? No. Understandable? Yes.

[eridani]

5. True--squatting your own former home is certainly on a higher ethical plane n/t

[AlabamaLibrul]

6. Squatting in any home - as long as it is not being damaged - is on a higher ethical plane

than using any actual immoral means (theft, robbery, selling hard drugs, etc.) to obtain the money for proper housing.

[Taverner]

7. Randy needs to get the Bank to SHOW THE PAPERS!!

And he might just get to KEEP his mansion!