Okay, interesting reading
in the news today. Once again I had zero intention of writing a blog post at this
time, but once again Yahoo convinced me otherwise. No, seriously, got maybe 2.5
hours of sleep last night & am exhausted. Got the husband and kids out the
door, inventoried my Scentsy plus got the bare bones of my next order entered
into the website, tracked a couple of packages, laid out some chicken for
dinner tonight & totally planned to go take a nap so I can work on my
Pathophysiology and go to my daughter’s soccer game tonight. Hoping I can still
manage a nap at some point, because all the stuff on the to do list must get
done at some point today.
Now back to the reason we’re
here, right? As I was scrolling through the front page on Yahoo before shutting
the old laptop down I saw an article that made me go, hmm, now this seems
awfully contradictory to the typical American way, let me read further. This
article, talking about a Texas Squatter that had been living in a $340,000 home in Texas since June of 2011 for just
$16! I’m thinking, what? My home is worth nowhere near $340,000 and I have to
pay way more than that to live in it for one month, much less over half of a
year, what in the world is going on here?
As it turns out this man,
Kenneth Robinson was using the law of Adverse possession. Adverse possession is
a common law concept dating back to the 1800s. From the article according to
Lucas A. Ferrara, a partner in Newman Ferrara, a New York City real estate law
firm, adverse possession was enacted to ensure that property wasn’t abandoned
and was “maintained and monitored.” It requires the posting of a clear, public
notice that someone is at the property-hence the court filing- and that someone
would remain there for a specific period of time, usually 10 years.
I couldn’t help but think
that this really isn’t a great way to go about getting a home to live in. Yes,
this property was in foreclosure and had been abandoned, but it’s really not
the American way per se to just take what belongs to someone else because you
want it and they’re not using it at the
moment. Apparently from the article Robinson’s neighbors agreed. However, even though I’d never heard of this
law, there are websites on the internet that for a small fee, of course, will
tell you how to utilize the law of Adverse Possession for your own benefit. I'm
not sure it’s something I’d be willing to or advocate trying, but I guess for
someone in desperate enough of a situation it might appeal.
While essentially squatting in this Texas home Robinson was not idle as you might presume. He wrote an eBook and has created a website about his experiences in the home he was squatting in. Apparently from the article and his website he sees himself as a successful person. I think the average American might not agree, I personally don’t, do you?
That really irritates me...I think as Americans everyone who works for a living understands that if you work hard and if you're smart with your money you can eventually get the things you always wanted. Now, this just seems like stealing to me. I wouldn't do that even if I could. I think that weird law should be abandoned. Sounds like he must have been really looking for a way to be lazy.
ReplyDeleteI agree on the need to abandon the law, it seems like one of the antiquated ones that needs to be off of the books. It does seem like stealing. And is just wrong in my opinion.
DeleteThat would be one of those stories I wished I had never read. Not the blog, but the news article. That crap just pisses me off. It is just like stealing or like the people that took advantage of the free homes after our tornado. Makes my blood boil.
ReplyDeleteI agree! On one hand I wish I hadn't looked at the story, because it made me so angry, but on the other hand it made for a good blog post.
DeleteAlthough I agree that what he did is just plain lazy, I feel like this is becoming the "American way", taking what you can get for free, not having to work for anything, etc. So maybe he is just doing what other people wish they could do. Again, I don't agree with what he is doing but it if he wasn't doing it, someone else would be figuring out how to take advantage of any loopholes to get something for free.
ReplyDelete