Man may be able to claim a $300,000 abandoned home for a $16.00 filing fee under Texa

Well, if they did a good job explaining the law, there would be no shock value. So why bother?

I'm sure there's LOTS more to this story, but again, the important thing is that the guy got a 300k house for $16. That's all you need to know.

Don't you just love today's media?

 

He has a long ways to go.

 

Two potential thoughts:

(1) The new guy is black. I'm guessing this is an upper class white neighborhood. No idea if that played a factor or not.

(2) If someone has money and a future tied to a property, they are much more likely to properly maintain it. That's why you see a lot of people being foreclosed on letting their property go to crap. That could potentially reduce the value of the neighboring properties.

 

More times than not the city will not change the property value for a few unappelaing/abandon houses; it would lower the taxes they receive from that are. However there are situations where you have a house that has been abandon for years so no one is there to protest the tax value. The city will try to get the other houses to conform to that house's tax value if is higher than those around it.

 

fixed

 

No idea if he's black or if anything plays into anything, but Flower Mound would probably be considered middle-to-uppper-middle-class neighborhood (generally speaking). It's just NW of DFW Airport.

 

PETER
So when the subroutine compounds the interest, right, it uses all these
extra decimals places that just get rounded off. So we just simplify
the whole thing and we just round it down and drop the remainder into
an account that we own.

JOANNA
So you're stealing.

PETER
Ah, no. No. You don't understand. It's, uh, very complicated. It's, uh,
it's, it's aggregate so I'm talking about fractions of a cent that, uh,
over time, they add up to a lot.

JOANNA
Ok. So you're gonna make a lot of money, right?

PETER
Yeah.

JOANNA
Ok. That's not yours?

PETER
Well, it, it becomes ours.

JOANNA
How's that not stealing?

 

This makes no sense. If the original owner abandons the property because he can't pay the mortgage, then the lending company should own the property and can sell it. A 16.00 filing fees seems not right at all.

 

At the moment the land is not claimed. Having property unclaimed means less money the government can be make on taxes. This is the main reason adverse possession exist. Someone can "squat" on unclaimed land and take over the backed up taxes for it. They will not be responsible to pay off all backed up taxes, about 3-5 years back is required. Now the original owners have a certain amount of time to take affirmitave action to claim their property. If they fail to do so a new chain of title will be created so there will be no cloud on the title.

 

anyone that takes possession of a house via squatting, legal loophole (legal stealing) is a turd ,and a joke of a person

 

This system is set up so someone can take over properties that are unclaimed or abandoned which allows the government to tax it. If the rightful owners abandoned the property and for years failed to pay taxes then they are going to lose it in foreclosure anyways.

The rightful owners to the title can easily dispute the squatters claims to their land. There are numerous versions of statute of limitations ranging from 3 to over 10 years depending on your state. They are notified when a party files suit to claim their property so there is no excuse. By failing to respond they are waiving their rights to the land. In many cases they sign a quit claim deed for a sum to avoid foreclosure.

Ultimately this is best for the economy bc it creates revenue for the government on untaxed land.

 

Bunch of elitists. Unbelievable how cruel and jealous human beings can be.
They'd rather see him starving in the street. LOL.
The guy found a loophole. Don't blame him for that. Dude is fighting to live.

 

I take it you bought a house the same way?

 

lol I wish!

I am an active realtor in the state of Texas. I personally never been part of a transaction like this but we learn about it in school before you get your license. I learned more about it extensively a year later in my mce legal update.

 

the guy filed the necessary paperwork and didn't break any laws. i have no problem with it.

 

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I believe you have my red stapler.

lol sry real estate is my passion, I can't avoid these threads. It is the only time I am ever going to appear smart.

 

Sorry - I wasn't thinking in terms of tax value, but potential prices for sellers. That's what would cause the neighbors to be upset. No one likes their $300,000 house to have a run down house next door that drags down their property value.

 

Not sure about the specific law in Texas, but the airticle is not accurate on the legal principle. Until the statutory period runs, the guy doesnt own anything because the owner can boot him out. So at the moment he is a possessor of land, not an owner. Secondly, he needs to be using the house as would a true owner to give notice to others that he is claiming title to it. The sign on the yard is a good start, but the lack of furniture and the fact that he has no utilities is not. He will be losing that house if they really dont want him there.

 

I don't buy this part:

"They're convinced he broke into the house to take possession, but Robinson told News 8 he found a key and he gained access legally."