A house divided, land speculator seeks his profit

St. Petersburg Times ^ | June 1, 2002 | JEFF TESTERMAN

[Cincinatus' Wife]

More Connolly:

View for sale: $30,000 New owner of a lake fences it off when homeowners wouldn't pay.

Who has rights to submerged lands?

[lepton]

"But is it illegal? I'm not equipped to say."

Equipped?

[Real Cynic No More]

Before all this is over, somebody's gonna hire Tony Soprano to "do the right thing" with Mr. Connelly.

[Tauzero]

You have to admit the pink paint and sparkles were a nice touch on the lake fence.

Solution: no property tax.

[Buffalo Head]

The 'right thing' to do is abide by the law. Somebody screwed up. Stuff happens. Fix it. Actions and reactions based upon emotion lead to anarchy.

[dawn53]

Here's another story about his shenanigans in this mornings St. Pete Times:

LINK

[holyscroller]

I think she could claim rights to it by adverse possession. She's actually been using it. It would be worth a try. The taxpayers will buy this guy off for her though in the end.

[gitmo]

Solution: no property tax.

You're right. Both in this instance and in the Pink Fence story there is no one to blame except the state. The original homeowners did nothing wrong. The land speculator was simply following rules set out by the law. (Yes, some people think he's an anal sphincter, but he's still following the lead of the state.)

The root of the problem is a legal system that creates these situations to begin with.

[TightSqueeze]

Luella Williams bought her house in 1993 through a city program for low-income people. The deal was arranged by the city and one of its nonprofit housing partners, the Tampa United Methodist Centers.

When you hear… Hi, we're from the government, and we are here to help, grab your wallet and run, do not walk to your nearest exit.
This kind of nonsense will be typical under Bush's faith based initiatives.

[1234]

les 'member folks: this guy's only pursuing the American way of free enterprise-gotta respect his moxie here and at the pink fence site.

[jimtorr]

this guy's only pursuing the American way of free enterprise-gotta respect his moxie here and at the pink fence site.

No, I don't. This shady character is the real-estate equivalent to the ambulance-chasing attorney. Wait a minute, he probably is a lawyer. He definetly is a rip-off artist.

[jimtorr]

The Hillsborough property appraiser saw that Williams owned only half of the lot, but assumed the house was on that half. The appraiser placed 100 percent of the house's assessment on the southern parcel owned by Williams.

Williams may have a case for a lawsuit against Connelly. She has been paying Connelly's share of the property taxes on the house for all these years.

[1234]

...This shady character is the real-estate equivalent to the ambulance-chasing attorney.

my word choice of 'respect' was poor. not only did i mean some awe at his boldness, but also more importantly: BUYER BEWARE in the real estate world, among others in the "land of the free".

[Diddle E. Squat]

Wouldn't this fall under squatter's rights provisions?

[1FreeAmerican]

I believe that you are right. My neighbor had built his fence about 18" inside his property and when a new buyer came along they surveyed the lot lines and discovered the problem. The new buyer insisted the fence be moved but it had been there longer that 7 years and that part of his lot was now mine.

[jimtorr]

my word choice of 'respect' was poor. not only did i mean some awe at his boldness, but also more importantly: BUYER BEWARE in the real estate world, among others in the "land of the free".

When you put it that way, I must agree. I am in awe of his nerve.

The sad part is that it's actually pretty easy to do this sort of thing. Tax sales and foreclosures and the like are published in really obscure business journals. Sometimes the publisher is located far away from the property's location. There is no requirement, usually, to publish in a local journal.

I recall a case in Central California where a homeowners association wanted to get rid of someone, for the stated reason that he didn't fit in with the rest of the owners (it was a social class thing, old money vs. new money).

They voted in a new fee, and didn't tell the guy about it. After the fee was six months overdue, they published a foreclosure notice in a business journal in a small town in Northern California, over 100 miles away.

The president of the the homeowners association bought the poor guy's million dollar house for only $1500. There was nothing he could do about it except talk to the media and sully everybodies ruputations.

[AuntB]

I had not heard about this one. More of this craziness goes on than anyone realizes.

[IRtorqued]

mail up!

[AppyPappy]

Some people just need killing.