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California homebuyers discover that the government is their enemy
American Thinker ^ | 03/22/2021 | Andrea Widburg

Posted on 03/22/2021 7:04:34 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

A nightmare facing a couple who purchased a home for cash perfectly illustrates why having the government over-involved in the rental market is a disaster even for people who never meant to lease their property but are plagued by a squatter. A couple who bought a house in good faith, now find themselves mired in California’s labyrinthine tenants’ laws, exacerbated by the new COVID rules.

Riverside is a large suburban area located about 50 miles east of downtown Los Angeles – although it’s still considered part of the Greater Los Angeles area. Tracie and Myles Albert, a young couple in Riverside, found what they thought was the perfect home: a four-bedroom house that they could buy quickly, for cash.

On January 31, 2020, the Alberts scraped together $560,000 in cash and gained title to the property. They have yet to move in.

Despite having pocketed $560,000 dollars and given up title, the original owner refuses to leave. Even under normal circumstances, this would be a problem for the new homeowners because California landlord-tenant laws are so hostile to the landlord. While the former owner isn’t technically a tenant – because there is no lease, no landlord-tenant relationship, and he owes no rent – it’s notoriously difficult to oust even squatters from properties in California.

Unfortunately for the Alberts, they have something worse to contend with than ordinary California law. They’re also fighting the new COVID rules:

[Chris] Taylor [the Alberts’ realtor] says, “It’s genuinely unfathomable to me that we live in a state where something like this is even possible. They closed escrow on this home January 31, 2020.” The Alberts and Taylor have contacted authorities and tried to get the seller evicted but because of the pandemic, they’ve gotten nowhere.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: california; covid; landlord; propertyrights; riverside; tenants
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To: SeekAndFind

Why the hell did they even close on a non-vacant property?


21 posted on 03/22/2021 7:37:25 AM PDT by mikey_hates_everything
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To: MAAG

This is why you write in the contract $1,000 a day for failure to release at close.


This is why you find friends to make this guy change his mind.


22 posted on 03/22/2021 7:40:00 AM PDT by VTenigma (The Democrat party is the party of the mathematically challenged )
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To: SeekAndFind

Tracie and Myles Albert, I wonder if they voted Democrat?


23 posted on 03/22/2021 7:41:33 AM PDT by Navy Patriot (Celebrate Decivilization)
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To: jackibutterfly

You’d be surprised how far squatter’s rights go, even to the point of a filing Quit claim deed making themselves the owners.


24 posted on 03/22/2021 7:42:33 AM PDT by VTenigma (The Democrat party is the party of the mathematically challenged )
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To: MAAG

Also you don’t fork over 1/2 a mil without scoping the merchandice.


25 posted on 03/22/2021 7:43:36 AM PDT by going hot
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To: SeekAndFind

Don’t they know a couple of good ol’ boys who will “persuade” the seller to vacate the property?


26 posted on 03/22/2021 7:45:06 AM PDT by bk1000 (Banned from Breitbart)
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To: SeekAndFind

How hard is it to stipulate in contract that the premises be vacant and broom clean? Not to mention the pre-settlement inspection.

And they got themselves in this pickle with cash??

As for the present circumstances: don’t play nice with cheaters.


27 posted on 03/22/2021 7:46:55 AM PDT by Buttons12 ( )
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To: SeekAndFind
Landlords are the only group expected to pay the mortgage, water, sewer, garbage for every one of those tenants.

So the Governors along with the feds have decided that landlords must provide these services to anybody and everybody that asks. Even the restaurant owners have a chance to make money with takeout and were given the chance to apply for the PPP bailout. Not landlords, not one dime was included in any of the 6 trillion dollars. It would be against the law not to pay the water bill for them.

28 posted on 03/22/2021 7:49:02 AM PDT by thirst4truth (America, What difference does it make?)
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To: Pajamajan

I also doubt Californians voted these people in.

The other thing dems do, is steal elections.

I've lived in California my whole life. Sadly they do not need to steal elections here. My fellow Californians would vote for Caligula's horse if it ran as a Democrat.

29 posted on 03/22/2021 7:49:51 AM PDT by FormerFRLurker
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To: jackibutterfly
That’s theft, in my mind.

To the Left, theft is just free-lance socialism.

30 posted on 03/22/2021 7:51:39 AM PDT by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries. )
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To: Petrosius
While the Alberts may not be able to evict the former owner, is there anything in the law that says that they cannot move in themselves? ... Also sue him for breach of contract...

I wondered that myself. Wait till the former owner goes to the grocery store or somewhere else and jump in and throw his stuff out onto the street and move in.

What's he going to do? He has nothing, not a rental agreement or title, to show the sheriff that he has a legitimate right to be there.

Stop playing nice.

31 posted on 03/22/2021 7:52:54 AM PDT by poindexters brother
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To: VTenigma

—”You’d be surprised how far squatter’s rights go,”

A guy I worked with, known at work as the ‘Land Baron’, had about half a dozen rental properties.

He had a deadbeat tenant...
The first major winter storm and he stopped by and threw a brick through the picture window and shut off the gas. Said it broke his heart to smash the window.

They were gone in a few days.

He said that in Cook County it takes forever for an eviction and costs $$$, the window was cheaper and faster.

Might be difficult in sunny California?


32 posted on 03/22/2021 8:00:48 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT ("The enemy has overrun us. We are blowing up everything. Vive la France!"Dien Bien Phu last message.)
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To: DUMBGRUNT
The first major winter storm and he stopped by and threw a brick through the picture window and shut off the gas. Said it broke his heart to smash the window.

I suspect you'd get arrested nowadays for that.

33 posted on 03/22/2021 8:04:12 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: Bonemaker

Yeah, It sounds more like money laundering when you’re able to ‘scrap together’ nearly 600K. Rich peoples problems.


34 posted on 03/22/2021 8:13:48 AM PDT by lwd
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To: Petrosius

Offer a month’s free rent to a motorcycle gang—they will remove the squatter—probably in bits and pieces.


35 posted on 03/22/2021 8:14:03 AM PDT by cgbg (A kleptocracy--if they can keep it. Think of it as the Cantillon Effect in action.)
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To: eyeamok

yeah but...what if ‘they’ don’t want to leave afterwards?? :O


36 posted on 03/22/2021 8:17:47 AM PDT by LibertyWoman
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To: Fai Mao

“Did they ever vote for a democrat? If so, who cares?”

Perhaps they were turned off by Trump’s ‘tweets’? Oh well, they sure taught Trump a lesson!


37 posted on 03/22/2021 8:22:27 AM PDT by BobL (TheDonald.win is now Patriots.win)
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To: jackibutterfly
That’s theft, in my mind.

Its also a clear case of fraud.

38 posted on 03/22/2021 8:24:04 AM PDT by usurper ( version )
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To: nh1; Bonemaker

“I noticed that as well. Who can scrape up that kind of money, Where did they find it? Under the cushions on the couch.”

I agree, it’s a decent chunk of change. But they live in a different world out there and if their timing was good on real estate prior to this house*, it’s very easy to see then having the case.

*AND they’re one of the 2 or 3 people in California who didn’t ‘extract equity’ from their gains by taking out second mortgages.


39 posted on 03/22/2021 8:27:54 AM PDT by BobL (TheDonald.win is now Patriots.win)
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To: SeekAndFind

The Realtor ( and his Broker) are at fault here for not protecting the interests of the buyers, and letting them go to escrow on an occupied home...and to know about the risks

It is their responsibility to know the law and write legally enforcable contracts.....and a lesson to buyers to have your own attorney review contracts and attend the closing

Buyers Should be able to sue RE company for damages


40 posted on 03/22/2021 8:34:37 AM PDT by silverleaf (In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act)
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