Posted on 07/20/2011 11:19:26 AM PDT by Do Not Make Fun Of His Ears
If someone you knew claimed to have bought a new house for $16, you'd probably expect it to be a rundown hovel.
But for Kenneth Robinson, that princely sum could see him as the new owner of a $300,000 home in an well-manicured part of Flower Mound, Texas.
On June 17, Mr Robinson took advantage of a little known Texas law to move into the abandoned home.
The house had been in foreclosure for more than a year and its owner walked away. Then, the mortgage company went bust.
After months of research, Mr Robinson used the obscure law 'adverse possession', filled out some paperwork costing just $16, and moved some of his belongings into the home.
Under the law, if someone moves into an abandoned home they have exclusive negotiating rights with the original owner.
If the owner wants them to leave, they have to pay off the mortgage debt on the home and the bank has to file a complicated lawsuit to get them evicted.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
That’s where the local health department can (and most likely will) get involved. He’s got a lot of hurdles to overcome.
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Drain the pool cut a hole in the bottom of the deep end for drainage and fill it with dirt and get the house water turned on ,, not a difficult problem to overcome ... most people won’t buy a house with a pool if they intend to rent it out ,,, filling the pool with dirt costs little , is easily reversible and totally eliminates a huge maintenance headache while maintaining the valuation enhancement when you do sell.
Just checking. Thanks, vendome.
Hmm, Canadian funds make it a tempting offer.
;-)
What kind of pool are you talking about?
LOL!
Not if the other side owns two.
Real CASH too!
7 Twoonies and 1 Looney. ;-)
De Nada.
Would be awkward calling you a nOOb. LOL
Post on.
What kind of pool are you talking about?
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The usual kind , cement , rebar , marcite ... you wouldn’t want to do that with a fiberglass pool ,, but those are uncommon. A pool can cost an easy $100+ a month in electricity and chemicals ,, plus about $75/month if you hire someone to clean it ... filling it in with dirt is the best solution if you’re not going to use it much and you’re tight on funds.
We do have the “usual” type of pool. You are absolutely right about the cost, maybe a little low we, live in AZ
I could just not imagine cutting a whole in the bottom of the pool to drain it,
I must have misunderstood what you said.
Now taking care of a spot of black algae, any ideas ?
I have a pool business ...
Since you’re in AZ the hole in the bottom would seem odd ,, where I’m at in Florida it’s a normal part of the process when you drain a pool to refinish it.. The hole isn’t to drain the pool ,, you do that with either the pools own pump or a sump pump ,, the purpose of the hole is to give groundwater a path to get back into the pool otherwise it can float out of the ground if you have a wet spell. I have a 3hp electric jackhammer I use just for that... you want to knock a hole as close to the main drain as possible without hitting the piping and save the marcite or pebble-tec (final finish coat) to reuse after you patch the hole so you don’t have a problem matching the look.
Black algae? SIMPLE .. get tough with it ,, you have to breach the shell it builds around itself ,, use a wire brush ... then you apply chlorine DIRECTLY to the algae ,, grab a tablet and grind it into the spot.. if you have any powdered or crystalline copper sulfate grind that in too ... when you’ve killed it all (you may have to do it twice) then backwash your filter ... liquid copper sulfate is your best friend when it comes to green/yellow algae ,, if you buy it in the pool store a single qt. bottle (1 application) will cost you $20+ ,, if you buy the same chemical at Home Depot in the garden center you can get a pint bottle for about $7 that will make 8 applications when you dilute it.. just ask for fungicide concentrate and read the ingredients.
I think the lock box and sign have been gone at least since the City mowed the lawn around April. At that time the City and our HOA were searching for who is responsible for the property.
Tomorrow I’m going to try to get a copy of what ever it was he filed with the county or at least find out his full legal name.
After the winter we just had, I don’t think that pool is worth the effort to save it.
Pouring motor oil in it ... yuck... then pouring that down the toilets??? What a nasty nasty disgusting way to live.
Is this what you’d call taking care of the property?
Would you want that going on next door to you?
Besides HOA has rules about window a/c units.
Pools are cheap to fix ... it’s mostly labor
Motor oil is the old standby ,, it was used for decades to kill mosquitoes breeding in pools of water .. it’s not “PC” today but just a little bit will work ,, unless you have access to some DDT? I’d rather have a little oil sheen on the water than mosquitoes ,, of course the best method is to have the pool cleaned up and functioning normally. If you don’t like the motor oil suggestion I’d suggest that YOU buy some “mosquito donuts” to float in the pool ,, chemical impregnated floating rings made for just this situation .. try a “do it yourself” pest control store...
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Is this what you’d call taking care of the property?
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YES I would call that an improvement over a million mosquitoes or so.. If I had an abandoned house with a pool next to mine I’d bring a cup of motor oil over to save myself from the mosquitoes.
If you’d rather have it sit abandoned and become the neighborhood party house for the kids to get drunk in (and fall into that pea green pool and drown) then I guess you can work to get him booted out somehow...
This guy has every incentive to be a good neighbor and keep the property up.. Why not give him a chance?
Tomorrow I’m going to try to get a copy of what ever it was he filed with the county or at least find out his full legal name.
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You can usually get all of that online (although the clerks sometimes get behind on posting the documents) ... Please drop me a “private reply” with the info as to the mortgage company and such.. Thanks.
Thanks that is a keeper
Its not been the neighborhood party house in the last year and unlikely to happen even if that squatter wasn’t there.
Local LE would run them out in a heart beat.
Yes, I’d rather see it sit empty than see someone just walk in and stake a claim like this guy has done.
Someone owns the title to this property. This guy just swoops in there and sets up camp, and claims it’s his? That’s just wrong.
I just drove by and (somehow) he’s come up with the money to get the lights on. Might have had something to do with all the publicity? Or someone put the utilities in their own name for him? I have no idea.
Here’s some fun reading:
http://ashy2classy.net/2011/07/20/kenny-robinson-my-new-hero/
Someone owns the title to this property. This guy just swoops in there and sets up camp, and claims it’s his? That’s just wrong.
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Yet that is exactly what is happening with all the foreclosures where the mortgages have been extinguished by conversion to certificates and the “bank” has been paid for the certs , the bank has been paid on default insurance , the bank has been paid many times on something it no longer has ANY claim to ...
???? I am sorry, I have no idea what you are talking about.
The bank owns the title to the property until its purchased from them or awarded to another entity by a judge in the case of the bank going out of business.
I was able to find out what he says is his full name from the County, I was able to print a copy of what he filed on line.
Further research by a friend of mine says according to tax rolls the house has not foreclosed and previous owner (who left) is holding title?
If the property did get sold/foreclosed whoever bought it did not file paperwork on it. So according to the County.. previous owner is still listed as owner. Neighbors say that family has moved out of state.
I have no idea if HOA, neighbors or anyone else has actually made contact with previous owner or lenders with the loan. I do know several attempts have been made by various people.
MORTGAGE ELEC REGISTRATION is the last listed Grantee—
so there is no telling what is what at this point.
more info:
Seems BoA owns it...
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