Epic Real Estate Investing - From Squatter Sales to Supernatural Evictions: Inside the Chaos | 1284

Episode Date: November 18, 2023

🎙️ Hold onto your seats as the champions of Epic Real Estate Investing dive headfirst into the untamed realm of squatter battles in this week's episode that promises to redefine real estate mayhem! 🏡 Join our hosts as they unravel tales of squatters turning the real estate market upside down, from selling properties on the sly to transforming Airbnb basements into epicenters of chaos.  Brace yourself for a collision of squatter rights and landlord rights, exposing the tumultuous landscape where legal boundaries blur, and chaos reigns supreme. 💪 Knockout Evictions: It's not just chaos, it's control. Our hosts unveil a repertoire of eviction strategies, ranging from traditional to supernatural tactics, ensuring you're armed with the tools to tackle any real estate turbulence.  Exceptional Stories, Expert Guidance: While these wild tales may seem like exceptions, our champions remind you that real estate remains an unparalleled investment. They guide you through the twists and turns, offering insights to navigate the eccentricities of the market. 🔥 Be prepared for an episode that shatters records, makes headlines, and leaves you yearning for more. The Epic Real Estate Investing Podcast ventures where no real estate podcast has gone before, delivering an experience that transcends the ordinary. Are you ready to enter the ring of real estate mayhem? Press play and let the adventure begin! 🚀 P.S. Whenever you're ready to go deeper and further with your real estate investing, looking into my partner program to help you get your first deal might be the move... take the first step here for free 👉 https://epicearnwhileyoulearn.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Let's go. Welcome to the epic real estate investing podcast. This is the go-to place for real estate insights and legal intrigue today. Today we're going to dive into a topic that's a little bit of an accident. An accident. There are no accidents in real estate. It was kind of an accident. You know, I'd recorded a or I wrote a YouTube short video. and I was just inspired one day. I got a little pop-up in my feed of one of the social medias. And it was about a squatter, about this handyman that got rid of a squatter for his mom. And I got into the story.

And I was like, oh, that's a good story. So I made a quick little 60-second YouTube short video about it. And it went viral. It did go viral. You've got over a million views on it. Well, let me just say that we got 2 million views on Facebook. And we're almost at 3 million views on that video. YouTube. Who knew people cared about squatters?

That was weird and weirdly I saw you know how your reticular activators fired off. And I saw another new story on squatters the very next day. So I did one on there. That one's over a million views. And then I say, let's see if they're three times a charm. And that one's over a million views. And the amount of comments and the amount of bickering back and forth between squatter rights and landlord rights is like we still definitely, it doesn't matter what topic we pick, we are a country divided. So I was like, well, gosh, if there's that many people interested in the topic, let's talk about it from like a real estate, actual real estate perspective,

from a landlord perspective, a property owner perspective. And let's see what we're up against. Yeah. It's interesting. You say that, Matt, because you and I, thank God, knock on wood, have never actually ever experienced a squatter. And the height of our, you know, career, 158 doors. and I've never had a squatter situation.

So I have heard of a couple people, and I do mean a couple, not a lot, discuss squatters. So, yeah, let's dive into that topic. I think it's a testament to we just have good property managers and they keep people in the properties. It's tough to squat on a property that has people living there, right? This is true. But let's just start with what is a squatter.

So it's just, it's someone that enters a property without permission and starts living there. Like, they just break into the house and say, hey, it's vacant. Let's move in. So initially, they are a trespasser, and then they cross the boundary of someone else's property, and then it gets interesting and complicated when they start making it their home. Yeah. And there's like a really great area as to when a trespasser becomes a squatter. But in many states, all they have to do is say, declare it, this is my home.

And all of a sudden, something called squadron rights kick in. It's really interesting. So squatter rights, it's a turn. term that it might sound actually like an oxymoron to a lot of people, certainly does to me. And it's actually rooted in laws that very widely from region to region, from coast to coast, depending on the state, what market you're in. And the laws can really turn the tables and give squatters more rights and legal protections than the owner has themselves.

That's just my blind. Mm-hmm. You know, it's something that can leave the property owners feeling frustrated and powerless. And I guess the argument from the other side, which I don't agree with, but it's seen as a necessary shield for the vulnerable. If the house is vacant, why not let them have it? Well, there might be some rationale to that, but they tear the place up. They don't pay. They don't, and it costs the owners a lot, a lot of money. So I was looking at squatter rights, and apparently it goes way back. It's absolutely like from the settlement days to where you have a plot of land.

And if you establish residency on that land, you just say, I'm going to start living here and you pop up your tent, whatever, after a certain period of time, you can legally call that property your own if no one came and claimed it. Wow. And so that's carried forward all the way into modern times, and those laws are all still on the books. So they make the whole legal process really kind of murky. So squatters rights, also known as adverse possession, what it does is it allows individuals to gain legal ownership of property under specific conditions. So the landlord perspectives. So we often face the challenge of dealing with squatters who exploit these legal loopholes. I remember in In Memphis, we had a lot of professional tenants.

Yeah. So we're no longer in Memphis anymore. Yeah, I tell you, these tenants, they learn the system, and I mean, they milk it. And this is, you know, we always talk about how important it is to have a team on the ground that's constantly overseeing that. So, yeah, for sure. Yeah, yeah. Once they learn the court system and those legal loopholes, they go ahead and they decide to stop paying. although they're technically tenants,

we can go through that process of how we get them out. We'll talk about that in a second. Yeah, I guess technically there are squatters if they're not paying rent, right? Yeah. So to date now, I've done like six or seven of these videos on squatters. And if anyone was wondering, pays attention to the YouTube channel, it's not the new squatter channel, I promise.

It's just something that people are interested in and watch and comment and engage with. So I just, you know, I made a few. It does come from our world because we're cash flow investors. and we're landlords. And it's something you need to be aware of. I don't think it's real common. It seems like if you're reading the news, it seems like it's really common.

But here we are what, Mercedes 15 years, 16 years. 16 years into our investing. And we've never had one. Ever. Thank goodness. Knock on wood. But here's a couple of the funny stories of what this can turn out to. So in Louisiana, a squatter took over a vacant house.

And he actually put it on the market and tried to sell it. How is that even possible, Matt? So here's one of the common methods for the professional squatters is they will go and falsify legal documents. Wow. And what he had was property tax records where he was able to put his name on there. And it was good enough to fool the police. And apparently that's the game. If you can just fool the police that come to kick you out, if you have enough to cause some doubt amongst them,

they throw their hands up, they leave, and then they leave it for you and the landlord, for the landlord and the squad to take it up with the legal system. Wow. So the tenant goes to the trouble of creating a falsified, quote-unquote, lease or rental paperwork. They go then through the trouble of obtaining the tax record of someone. Maybe even paying it so they can prove that they've paid it. And then when the police comes to the door, because the owner has said, that's my property, those are not legal tenants. The police just say this is a legal issue and I don't want to deal with it.

Yeah. Wow. I mean, there's police officers. How are they going to know the difference between a real and a fake tax document, property tax document? This is true. Right? I mean, you can falsify anything these days, at least enough to raise doubt. Yeah, for sure.

So that's enough to make the cops go away. Yeah. And now you're stuck there with the person living in your house. There's another one that this just came to the wraps. This was going on for a little over two years. This was in Brentwood, California. Oh.

And it was the guy, it was a mansion, there's a luxury property that had a little guest house. And the owner was renting the property or the guest house out on Airbnb. So the Airbnb guest moved in and after 30 days decided she wanted to stay. Oh, wow. So her loophole that she found was that she went down to the county records and found that he had never gotten the certificate of occupancy for the guest house.

Oh, wow. And so she filed a complaint that she was living in the unsafe conditions. And so, and then when he came out and tried to kick her out, she then filed a lawsuit against him for harassment. On his own property. Yes. Unbelievable. So this just ended. That was just last week.

This is a brand new story. I mean, well, it's not brand new, but its conclusion is brand new. And how did it end? He was being interviewed actually. He was filming a documentary on his. his experience with the squatters. And so the film crew was out in front of his house. They were filming the documentary.

And while he was filming, he saw three people pull up in a van and they walked into the guest house. So his first thought was like, gosh, I hope they're the movers. Kind of said that jokingly. And then he started thinking, whoa, wow, maybe they're robbing the place. So then he went and called the cops. The cops came. And sure enough, after about an hour or so, they were movers.

They moved all the stuff out. And the squad was gone. And it was happily ever after and changed the locks and now he's got his place back. But it was just because the only reason is just because the squatter felt like leaving. Oh, wow. Because the squatter could have dragged along as long as they wanted you, meaning the owner was going to have to take her to court. Because, of course, this was in beautiful Southern California. And this is the reason why you and I left California.

I mean, not because we had a squatter problem, but just because the laws are so curtailed to tenants. And it's just insane. Yeah, definitely favors the. tenants. I would say Oregon, Washington, and California, all three of the West Coast states, you really don't want a rental property there. Yeah. That's not the, you're at an extreme disadvantage. I think Oregon now is statewide rent control. Wow. And then parts of L.A. still have that as well. But anyway, so there's that story. And then another really funny story. Oh, in Seattle, one of our favorite states. And I did not go and handpick these to be in those states, by the way.

But this was a good story. This guy owns a property and he was traveling and then he rented it out. And then when he returned home to take his home back, the tenant wouldn't leave. So the tenant had been there for, I don't know, about six months of not paying. And then one day he was going through it. And he's still making the mortgage payments on this. And he's living in his car with his dog. Oh, my goodness.

Yes. So he's got his little van. And Wally is the name of the dog, if you were curious. I remember the story because I covered it as one on one of my videos. So he's living in the van and he says he drives by his house. He looks at his house and he just wishes he could go back inside. And it's a really nice house. It's a pretty nice house.

But what really kind of takes this story over the top is the tenant who is not paying rent, but is collecting rent by renting out the basement on Airbnb. Unbelievable. You're sharing these stories with me, Matt. And obviously, you know, you did the research on this because you just kind of covered it. So you're talking about this. And I'm like literally feeling probably how the listener is doing like, whoever gas did that I cannot believe these words are coming out of your mouth. And privately is because we've owned so many properties and it's never happened to us.

Just the audacity of people that like intrude into a premise and then stay there. Like how does that even cross someone's mind that that's okay? Right. And poor Wally and the guy are living in their van, parked probably right out. outside the front door of this property that he owns, that he's paying the mortgage for and property taxes, and he can't occupy his own freaking property. That's exactly what the film crew did, is they put him in his van in front of his house and they filmed the story. Rightfully so. They showed the little bed that he sleeps in inside his van and where his dog's food bowl is. Oh, my God. And I hope he took that to court. Okay. So what happened?

So he has taken it to court. So let's kind of go there now. What are your legal actions that you have available to you? Yeah. Well, you're not going to like them. Okay. Once the cops decide that, hey, this is an issue for the courts, I don't know. It's up for you to deal with it. Now you've got to go through basically the eviction process. Oh, my gosh.

And so I've got the steps here written out. Yeah. And this is going to vary slightly from market to market. But generally speaking, this is what you have to go through. Step one is verification and due diligence. So you've got to confirm the squaders presence and gather evidence that they are indeed occupying the property without your permission and then check that they have any form of lease or claim to the property, right? Because maybe they do, apparently. Yeah. Well, the court certainly makes

you go confirm. Well, maybe they do own the property and you just didn't know it. So, Matt, how does a homeowner, playing Deadwell's advocate here, how does a homeowner say to them, hey, show me proof that this is you're rightfully occupying this property? Well, this step is verification and due diligence. So I imagine it's just you have to go through the same types of processes that you would when you're buying the house. Yeah. All right. Right. I mean, it doesn't get in super detailed, but I guess you just walk up and hey, what's your claim

to this property? And if they don't have anything, then check that box off the due diligence, right? Right. Okay. All right. Then step two, you got to issue a formal notice. That means you have to serve the squatter with a formal eviction notice. Yeah.

And that notice is typically going to demand the squatter vacates the property within a specified period. Well, we should say that the formal eviction notice doesn't so much have to constern. institute courts. At this point, you can just issue them like a property management company would issue a three-day or a quick notice. This is just going through the steps of how you have to do this legally. Okay. We have some exciting ways and creative ways of how we get them out.

And I gather all of these from the comments below in our YouTube video. So there are some very colorful ideas. And we'll get to those in a sec. So then step three is you file an eviction lawsuit. So if the squatter doesn't comply with the eviction notice, the next step is to file. the eviction lawsuit. Wow. That means that the owner of the property is going to have to entertain retaining an attorney to actually file the appropriate paperwork to do that. They got to go to court. They got to present their case before a judge. That sucks. All the way around, it sucks.

Yeah. All right. Then step four is you have the court hearing and the judgment. Yeah. So both the property and the squad have the opportunity to present their case in court. And the judge makes a decision based on the evidence and the legal arguments that are presented. Yeah. And this is where you hope that the tenant doesn't show up or the squatter doesn't show up, because if they don't show up, then the owner of the property is automatically awarded. Right. Yeah. You know, our friend in Seattle, like, typically, I mean, you're all the landlord is almost,

is always going to win unless there is something there that the squatter does have some sort of claim to. Yeah. But the process, like this particular guy in Seattle, he hasn't had payments since January. So here we are in, what, November. and he doesn't have his court date until summer of 2024. Wow. So even though he's going to win, he still has to wait. Yeah.

He still has to wait. And then he still has to maintain the mortgage, the insurance, the property taxes. I mean, just, I can't even handle it. Right. Okay. So when the owner typically wins, now it's time for step five enforcement of the eviction. Yeah. So if the court rules in favor of the property owner,

an eviction will be issued, and the law enforcement peeps of the area will be involved to physically remove this water from the property. Yeah. And that time frame from the time that the court issues the actual judgment to the time that a tenant actually evicts can vary by state and by county. Like I know in the state of California, if a marshal has to accompany the individual to serve them, even they've already. even served in court. But if they have to accompany them, the waiting list to get a marshal to go out there is so long because there's so many people that are experiencing such a situation. And it doesn't necessarily mean it's a squatter. It's just somebody that doesn't pay rent. But I mean, there's only so many marshals that do that. And the waiting list is extensive, which is one of the reasons why

it takes so long to get somebody out of a California home. California. California. I know. We don't miss it, as you can tell. So number six is the post eviction process. So once the squatters removed, you got to change the locks, got to secure the property. That's what the guy in Bellier did immediately. Yeah. And then you got to assess and repair any damages caused by the squatter. And if you go online and just start typing a squatter and look at images, you can see that

house is not going to be in the same condition it was when they moved in. Yeah. And it's so sad. Yeah. So sad. So some preventative measures, they put this in as step seven after the issue was resolved. You can take the measures and you want to do like, property checks, you want to install security systems,

to maintain clear communication with the neighbors to monitor the property. Just make sure it doesn't happen again. Yeah. Well, in our case, Matt, our property management companies and all of our teams, they do monthly checks on all of our properties and that, you know, they go to neighborhoods and they just go drive around the neighborhoods just to kind of take a peek at the properties. So it's really important to have a team on the ground that will do that for you. Right.

Yeah, to avoid this fiasco. I want to move on to these more colorful ways. I've got seven additional steps that if you wanted to just bypass all of that madness. But we should say it's crucial for property owners to handle squatter situations legally and avoid self-help measures like forcibly removing the squatter or cutting off utilities as these actions can lead to legal complications. So consulting with a real estate attorney because Mercedes and I are not. It's often advisable to navigate the complexity of eviction laws and to ensure that the process is handled correctly and efficiently.

Yeah, for sure. All right. So I pulled some of the more colorful, exciting comments from our videos. Wait a minute, but by colorful, Matt, do you mean like outlandish ways that owners are, okay, I wasn't sure what your definition of colorful was? It was kind of difficult to tell. Were people being sarcastic or were they being truthful? Were they, you know, just having fun with it or were like they really upset because the emotional divide is pretty polarizing? I mean, it's never happened to me or us, Matt, but I mean, just hearing it, I'm experiencing the emotion as a property owner, as an investor where this is our livelihood.

Like, you know, yeah, we buy a property, we invest. But we live off of the rents. And if someone impedes through that process, I mean, I could see how. man, that would piss me off. Now, I wouldn't go crazy. I don't know if I would cut off utilities. I don't think I would do that, but I could see. We'll get to that.

Okay. Well, you mentioned that in a blur. But what I found really interesting was the number of people that think landlords and real estate investors are just the absolute devils of society. This is true. That how dare you profit off of someone's shelter? Yeah. How dare you do that? How dare you provide a nice, safe place?

for someone to live and then ask them to compensate you for it. Yeah. The other thing is they are convinced prices, property prices are where they are at right now because of real estate investors. They are convinced that real estate investors displace families and treat them unfairly. And they're convinced that every single landlord is a slumlord. Those are synonyms to them. Yeah.

There is a big cohort of people out there that share that opinion about real estate investors. Yeah. You know, what's interesting, Matt, is that, you know, when, many investors embark on the space of real estate investing. There's always a big reason why. Yeah, sometimes it's financial, but a lot of times our heart is in the right place. Like, we really take the time to make a house comfortable and beautiful so that someone can

live comfortably and affordably. And it just blows my mind how so many people out there wrong us for trying to do the right thing. And it's crazy, but it's true. And they're pretty passionate about it too. I know this. Right? Yeah.

And here's the amazing part of it, Matt, is that we live in America. We live in the land of opportunity, where we all have the opportunity to do that. I'm not, yes, I was born in the United States. But technically, when I say I'm Puerto Rican, they're like, oh, well, Puerto Rico is not part of the United States. I came here and I have the opportunity in America that I don't necessarily have in Mexico where my mother's from and in Puerto Rico where my father's from. And so my whole point is that everybody is given the same opportunity to purchase a home. And there are so many programs out there. And I remember when I worked in mortgage banking, there were programs where all you had to do was show that you had a paycheck.

And you could come in with 3% of a mortgage. Mind you, you'd have to save over time to acquire that 3%. But it's still tangible to the average American. Now, the average American chooses not to do it, but it's not because the resources aren't there or the opportunity isn't there. It's because they oftentimes choose not to do it or don't know how to do it or even that it's an option. This is why you and I spend so much time trying to educate just America about what's out there. So that even pisses me off. The fact that I'm not from here technically, and I've been given that opportunity. So everybody else has the same opportunity presented to them.

Whether they choose to take it or not, that's a different story. What you're talking about the 3% down with the FHA loan is $10,000 can be. buy you something just about every part of this country. Absolutely. You might not be getting a high rise in Manhattan. For sure. You might not get a beachfront property in Miami. Yeah.

But you don't have to travel too far from those locations to where $10,000 amounts to 3%. Yeah. And if you're listening right now and you're like, yeah, where? Just open up Zillow and look. Yeah. It's not difficult. There's a place close by where you can do that.

And what the nice thing is that the government just didn't. We haven't talked about this. And I don't think enough has been made about it. but they just created somewhat of an FHA program from multifamily properties. Yep, they sure did. It thinks up to 12 units. Yep. You can put 5% down.

I mean. And you have to occupy the property. You have to occupy it. But you can get up to 12 units and 5% down. All of a sudden, you've got your retirement with one fail swoop. Yep. Just boom. You're done.

And your credit score doesn't even have to be over the top extraordinary. And you just have to prove that you have steady income because they factor in. the rents coming in as part of the income for the property. Nice. Yeah. So anyways. It's a lot of time they do that in advance. Usually you've got to sit on the property for six months to 12 months to prove that it's going to produce the income.

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Me neither. Let's get you some more. Back to the show. All right. So here we go. We have the suggestion number one. They call this the poltergeist play. Let's turn the property into a haunted house.

Employ some spooky sound effects, eerie lighting, and maybe a ghostly figure to appearing at random. A little harmless paranormal activity might encourage squatters to find less supernatural accommodations. This would work every single month of the year except October, because then they'd probably go into the play for Halloween. That sounds funny, though. That's hilarious. That sounds like fun to do.

We'll try that one if we get... If that ever happens to us, yeah. Number two, the renovation ruse. So starting an endless renovation project. So loud construction noises at the crack of Don, maybe some off-keys singing from the workers, also known as your friends. And a never-ending dance of ladders and paint cans could make the squatters reconsider the living situation that way.

Wow. Okay. That sounds like it's expensive, though. Yeah. I think it would work, but it sounds like that's going to take some money. That's also going to take, like, some dedication because for that to work. Yeah, commitment. Yeah, commitment.

I mean, you've got to be on the spot at 6 a.m. every morning for 30 days in order for the squatter to be even bothered by it. And then hopefully you have someone that's actually bothered by that type of stuff. That's true. because it might be better conditions than where they were before they got there. So true. Number three, wildlife wonderland. I thought you might like this one or say. So release a troop of harmless but noisy animals.

Think geese or chickens on the property. And so they're constant chatter. And love for early morning serenades might just persuade the squatters that are more peaceful abode is preferable. That's insane. So I thought about that one that, yeah, it gets the squatters out. Now you've got to deal with the chicken and geese. I like what's coming up next. The musical maneuver.

What is that? So set up speakers and play a loop of the most annoyingly catchy song that you can think of. Think Baby Shark on repeat. Really loud. And then after a few hours or maybe even minutes, even the most determined spotter might wave the white flag. Oh, that's fine. I know I had enough of Baby Shark. We only had one kid.

And then he learned to play it on the piano when he was like four, which was great. So I saw this one and I actually have a friend as an acquaintance that I know is across the country. And this is kind of his thing. And I was like, I think this could also like the chickens and the geese could leave a bigger mess after the fact that what the swires would have done. But he throws a stink bomb in the place. Oh, wow. So unleashing a symphony of smells, strategically plays durian fruit known for its potent aroma around the property or a bouquet of a skunk. Might just be.

Yeah. Remember where in that bar? Once. Yes. It was in Redondo Beach. And we were there just on a Saturday afternoon watching football. And we were just having snacks. And all of a sudden, we just started smelling the most horrendous smell.

And I guess there's a can of something that you can just open up. And someone opened up the can in this poor restaurant. And we had to leave. Yeah, it was nasty. We could not stay. It was really, really bad. People were coughing. So I guess they have things like,

But I don't know, does it stick? Does it stay? No, probably not. But I mean, if the homeowner is determined, then doing it on a regular basis, they don't know where it is. Maybe it only takes once. That's true. This is true.

The never-ending party, so organize a flash mob-style party that just never seems to end. Also sounds like a lot of commitment, right? Yeah. Random people showing up at all hours dancing and being generally joyful, but loud could disrupt the squaders' peace. And then this one, the misinformation campaign, start a rumor that the property is about to become something utterly undesirable. Perhaps at a new headquarters for a fictional 24-hour bagpipe practice club. Oh, that's funny.

Wow. There's a sense of humor in the comments. You know? You got to do something. So those are some ideas. But I also pulled together some stuff that are still don't follow the legal process. Right. And they might play in the gray area a little bit.

Yeah. But they are a little bit more practical. than partying with your squatters and all the time. Or stink bombs? Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, first thing would be negotiation, right? It sounds terrible to do, and you're going to hate every second of it.

We've been in a couple different situations where we had to negotiate where we were 100% in the right. Yeah. But it was just the better road to take because the alternative could have been much more expensive and much more time consuming. Yeah, so you're talking kind of like cash for keys type of thing. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe just a straightforward conversation. that could be effective. Hey, listen, you got to go. I don't know how good that would work, but

something like cash for keys. You know, here's a thousand bucks. Get out. Yeah. That could be a lot easier than 18 months in the court process and attorney fees and filing fees and all that kind of stuff. Yeah. I mean, it's not only the fees. It's just the mental wear and tear that it has on just all parties. Because I can imagine for the squatters, it's a pain in the butt for them too, knowing that they're going to be kicked out. Right. It's crazy. Not that I'm defending the squatter away, but just the fact that it occupies brain space. I got you. Yeah, no, totally.

And then, hey, a thousand bucks to leave is, that's probably the best money they made all year. And if you can't stomach that, then maybe number two is actually hiring a third party to come in and do the mediation. Yeah. Right? Not formally and necessarily, but someone to come in and try and find a, because I don't know if I'd be emotionally capable to negotiate and create a win-win scenario for people.

So maybe you need a third party, come and do that for you. Just think the bigger picture, keep your eye on the prize, you just want your property back and you want to end with as little damages as possible. Number three, we talked about utility disconnection. Wow. So the one property in Louisiana we were talking about earlier, so he had the falsified property tax document and he had utilities turned on in his name. Wow. But you know what? That's really easy to do, Matt. If you produce a lease and take it to, you know, the utility company, that's really all they need to turn on utility. And it's the legalities of it because if the utility company is wrong and refuses to turn that on, now they could be liable.

Yeah, for sure. Right. So if you can, and it's ethical in some circumstances, consider disconnecting utilities like water, electricity, and gas. However, check local laws and regulations first as this can sometimes be legally complicated. For sure, for sure. Right. Number four, improve security. Yeah.

So enhance the security of the property with surveillance cameras or security personnel. That was one I saw pop up a lot in different places, is that just the security camera. and then the type of motion-activated lights. Yeah. Burgers don't like those. Yeah, yeah. And we put those around our house. We put those in our house,

and we put those on a lot of our renters for sure on our Airbnbs. All of our Airbnbs have cameras. But those lights that turn on the outside. On the outside. Yes, yes, yes. On the outside. And for the most part, yeah, just on the outside. But for the most part, when I have a property on the market,

we'll throw a camera out there just to make sure because it's vacant. And until we occupy the property, we offer the tenant the opportunity to take over it if they want their own or we'll just take it off. But I mean, that's just good practice because I'm into preventative situations as opposed to figuring out the hard way. And that's kind of that leads us to the next one is don't let the property be vacant. Yeah. Right? And if it is vacant, then you need to have like a regular presence felt. For sure.

So you need to regularly visit the property with friends with family. have a consistent presence that because squatters will scope or scout the places that they're going to take over and to see if it's really vacant, how easy this is going to be. And if it looks like it's going to be more trouble than it's worth, they might just skip yours and go to your neighbors. Yeah. Well, that's where you're out of state property management team comes into play. Because this is when you need to be very clear about how often they need to visit the property

when it's vacant or when it's being marketed. Yeah. Yep. the legal notices posting these, like being proactive with these and posting these in advance about the illegal occupancy and potential legal actions that, just that notification can sometimes scare squatters away without actually going to court. They're like, oh, these people mean business. Yeah. And if you can establish that before they even get inside, then that would be enough.

Yeah. Report to local authorities. In some cases, the squatters are conducting illegal activities, reporting them to the local authorities can prompt investigation. So you might have to do a little bit of spy work, a little bit of what they call that, not scouting when the cops sit outside of a building watching. Surveillance. It's surveillance. There's a short slang word for it.

Yeah. But it might take that night stakeout is the word I'm looking for. Oh, that's a sophisticated word there, Mr. Terrio. It has two syllables when you put it together. You know, that'll take a little bit there. You can do some filming, take some pictures. If you catch illegal activity, sometimes that can be enough. Yeah.

Then offering to pay for moving expenses kind of walks that line of cash for keys. Restricting access to amenities. So the squaders using amenities like a account. common area laundry or parking, restricting access to that can be deterrent. And then communicating potential legal consequences, just letting squatters like just threats, basically. This is what I can do. And this is what I'm going to do. So you can leave or are you're going to deal with this, right?

So those are all different ways that you can manage this situation without having to go through the legal system and without paying for that process, without waiting for that process. And then also not ending up in jail yourself. I'm still stuck on the offering to pay for moving expenses. I mean, that just still makes my blood boil, knowing that this is a squatter occupying the property that I use my hard-earned dollars to purchase. You know, it's like, yeah, but then I think about the alternative of getting an attorney involved and going to court and the time. And it's like, yeah, okay, I'll suck it up for a minute. But it still is horrible. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So I'll just, we'll finish with these other two that I thought were really interesting twists on the law. And one of them is squatting the squatter. Ooh, tell me more. So the idea here is to essentially fight fire with fire. So if someone is squatting your property, you or someone you trust becomes a squatter in your property to reclaim it. Huh.

So they move in with a squatter? Yes. And just basically become a nuisance themselves. So you become roommates with the squatter. Right. Well, just think about who you could hire for that. Because there were a lot of people in the comments that raised their hand, hire me, I'll get rid of them.

Oh, that is hilarious. So the demographic that kept coming up over and over again was the biker gang. Let the biker gang turn it into a clubhouse and see how long the squatters stay. Hells Angel. Send us your phone number. We'll air it for you. And all I was thinking was, well, okay, you'll get rid of the squatter, but now you got a new squatter. Yeah, that's.

With a slightly different level of resistance. Yeah, for sure. So there's one. The other one was, and this was how the story that started at all, the very first video that I released that caught my attention, I thought, wow, that's really clever, was a handyman that went over to his mom's place who had been taken over by a squadron. And mom, elderly, couldn't get rid of it or get rid of the squadron. And so what he did is he spent a weekend reading up on the laws and he found a loophole. And this was in California. So what he discovered was that a tenant has more right to a property over a squatter than the owner does.

Oh, well, that makes perfect sense. So with the son not being on title, he signed a lease with his mother. then he waited outside for the squatters to leave and then he went in moved in he put cameras everywhere changed the locks and now he is the rightful owner he's the one who has the lease and so when the squatters came back to try and claim it if they call the cops she says here's my lease yeah this is signed today so basically um just kind of turning that law on backwards on them so when they have their documents to confuse the the police, you have your document to confuse the police, but your document is actually

verified. Verified, yeah. And that's what started this whole thing. And that's a very interesting twist on this law that, you know, just like California, though, right, a tenant has more rights over a squatter than the owner has rights over a squatter. This is true. This is true. There, there's our story on squatters.

And some of these we might have shared sound alarming and might deter you. And have you think twice about becoming a landlord? Remember, they're not the norm. I even looked at, like, is, am I just awake and aware right now and just totally on alert for squatter stories? Because it's led to virality on YouTube. Yeah. Right? So I did a bunch of searching on trends, whether it's moving one way or the other.

And there's nothing really published or reported. Yeah. I think it's just because now the algorithms all know that I'm interested in squatters. Thank you, AI and algorithms. And put in front of us. So it's not the norm still, real. estate is the greatest investment on earth. Yeah.

And it's sad when you see all of the comments that are anti-real estate investor because this is your final shot. This is your only shot. You live in a system where if you're not a gifted athlete, you're not an inventor with the next greatest idea, if you're not talented with writing scripts or writing songs or singing songs. Yeah. And if you weren't born with a silver spoon in your mouth, you think your job's going to get

you to a wealthy status? Yeah. Fat chance. I mean, you're going to have to be the rise to the corporate ladder and you're going to have to be CEO, CFO. You're going to have to get all the way to the top to get to a place where real wealth can be created. And so real estate, it still is the final frontier where the average person can really make it happen. Because most people, they don't make enough to save enough for any other strategy to work. And I'm talking about you, Mr. Dave Ramsey.

He's all about, there's nothing wrong with his advice. I pick on him a lot, but I don't like his conviction about it's the only way is his. way because when you extrapolate the math on what he promotes and what he advises, most people just particularly his followers don't make enough to save enough for that math to pan out, for them to live at least an equal life in retirement as they were living while they were working. 99%, not my facts, not my stats, nothing is per the Department of Health and Human Services, is 99% fail at that approach. Yeah.

That's a 99% failure rate doing what Dave Ramsey suggests you do. And I'm just like, and you call real estate risky. Yeah. Well, you know, Matt, I'm glad that you've mentioned that because we have a couple of clients that have followed or attempted to follow Dave Ramsey. And, you know, they've saved a little bit of money. And then they've bought a couple of our cash flowing properties. and have told me this has been a lot more lucrative

than the way that I tried to do with Dave Ramsey himself. I'm going to see if I can interview them and maybe they can kind of give us there. We do have an actual Dave Ramsey student. We do have the whole program, did everything he did. And he was like, okay, now what? Yeah.

And Dave Ramsey didn't have an answer for him. Didn't have an answer. To keep doing it. For the next 30 years, make these sacrifices and live on this small little budget, you'll be just fine. And he sacrificed, let me tell you. I interviewed last week,

Yin, and she, 39 years old, and she's retired after four years of investing and buying cash flow savvy properties. And she said that, you know, she dabbled in a couple different things. And I believe she mentioned that concept. And it didn't work for her. I say one more thing about the real estate part of it. Yeah. This is why we do what we do, because I'm so passionate about it. So if you're here, you are probably as well, and you're looking to learn something about it. So I don't, I was almost filter myself that I don't want to beat this dead. horse into the ground. But during COVID, it really had an impact on our education business and our live event business. And thank God we had real estate. For sure. Thank God. Thank God.

Yeah. Right. We'd be just one of the statistics that lost their business that are out there, you know, in the job market, trying to work and stay up with inflation and be right in the same old thing. Thank God we had had real estate. Yeah. It makes me think about the people that didn't, how real the struggle was during that time. It was super hard. But yeah, for sure. What I was saying about going back to the squatter was I've spoken to several of our colleagues and people in our mastermind groups that have hundreds of rentals.

And, you know, when I've asked them collectively about the nightmare tenant or, you know, the squatter, there are very few of us. I mean, I say us because I'm part of them, but I've never experienced it. So we do want to reiterate that squatters are not the normal occurrence in rental properties. So there's that. Awesome, Mr. Terrio, anything else you want to say before I wrap up with a couple of things for our listener? No. Awesome.

I think this was a good episode. I think I actually enjoyed it. We had more to say than I thought we were going to have to say. You and I always have something to say about real estate. Well, now it's up to you, our listener. What topics do you want us to cover in relation to real estate? investing. We've done our share of fix and flips and wholesaling and buying and holding multifamily and single family residents and portfolios. You name it. I think Matt and I have dabbled in it or done it

to some extent. So you tell us what you want us to talk about and we will do the research for you and we will share our experience with whatever it is that you want to hear. So send us an email or you can just type in a comment and tell us what you like best about this episode. And also, we are conducting a little contest. We'll wrap it up at the end of the year, but we are looking to name our followers, our listeners. And so we want to name you just like, you know, Taylor Swift has her swifties. The epic real estate investors and listeners have to have their own name as well. So tell us what you want to be called. Put it in. the comments in our reviews, give us a five-star review. The winner will get a signed book by Mr. Matt Terrio himself, and we'll send you an awesome Amazon gift car so you can shop for Black

Friday. And if you found something super, super helpful, share our podcast and share it with your mastermind group, share it with your RIA group, share it with a fellow investor, or someone that's considering diving into real estate investing the right way. Awesome. I think that's it. Yep. Until next week, have an epic week. Take care. Bye.

And that wraps up the epic show. If you found this episode valuable, who else do you know that might too? There's a really good chance you know someone else who would. And when their name comes to mind, please share it with them and ask them to click the subscribe button when they get here and I'll take great care of them. God loves you and so do I. Health, peace, blessings and success to you. I'm Matt Terrio.

Living the dream. This podcast is a part of the C-suite radio network. For more top business podcasts, visit c-sweetradio.com