A CASA flipper was left in a unique situation after a trespasser refused to leave the site of his latest project.
Daniel Cabrera has been selling homes in and around San Antonio, Texas, for 15 years.
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In his career, he has sold hundreds of homes through his Sell My House Fast SA TX company.
Cabrera purchased a five-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom home for $175,000 in 2023, hoping to sell the property for a profit.
The owner of the home was a woman who had been facing foreclosure for days and agreed to sell to Cabrera.
The woman received her share of the money from the sale when the house closed – about $12,000, he told The US Sun and Realtor.com.
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“She was in trouble and I’m a problem solver,” he said.
Cabrera gave him a week to move out and give him the keys.
What started as a normal process quickly turned into a problem that Flipper had never dealt with during his career years.
UNWANTED OCCUPATION
After the two-week courtesy ended, Cabrera was unable to contact the previous owner as she stopped responding to all texts and calls.
With a sinking feeling in his stomach, he went to the house and found her still living there and with a goat.
Stunned, he realized that, despite his name appearing on the property deed, the previous owner “was a squatter”.
“I put a lot of time, energy and money into the house and now she won’t leave and I’m stuck with her and her goat,” Cabrera said.
Squatters are defined as people who move into a space that doesn’t belong to them without permission, or as current tenants who overstay their welcome.
In this case, the tenant continued to live in the property after the sale.
After realizing he was dealing with an attacker, Cabrera approached nearly 300 law firms to obtain a temporary order to stop the foreclosure.
However, it was the Fourth of July weekend and the only lawyer willing to work charged him almost four times the traditional fee.
A three-day eviction notice was posted on the door of the house, but the woman did not want to leave.
Almost five months after the closure and thousands of expenses, the problem was resolved with the help of two police officers and a locksmith.
It took the threat of arrest to get the woman to leave, but eventually she disappeared.
OCCUPANTS’ RIGHTS
Occupancy and landowner rights can be a puzzle when it comes to the law.
They can move out at any time – so vacant homes need constant monitoring – and once they’re inside, it can be difficult to move them.
Although tenants are invited into a property with consent, if they stop paying they will not be considered trespassers because there are legal protections and processes landlords need to undertake to evict them.
Although the squatters are actually trespassing on the property, which is illegal, they are innocent until proven guilty, so the eviction process can become lengthy if they refuse to knock on the door and get involved.
The laws for removing someone are different for both, which adds even more complications.
Homeowners who try to forcibly remove trespassers can open themselves up to a potential lawsuit for harassment or assault, so the advice is generally to follow the rules.
Squatters also have rights, known as adverse possession, under the law that allows an individual to occupy a property and remain there without the owner’s permission.
And if they stay long enough, they can even eventually claim ownership.
OCCUPANTS’ RIGHTS
Although trespassers have rights, they vary by state.
In this case, Texas squatters can remain on a property if they live there and pay taxes for five years.
However, Cabrera’s lawyer specialized in evictions and explained that the woman would be considered a “suffering tenant” and would have certain rights.
This is where there is a tenant, but no rent.
Because of this, Cabrera was forced to pay out of pocket to have it removed.
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He then had to spend $7,500 on legal bills.
Additionally, it took him $50,000 and two months to clean and renovate the house.
However, this value may have been appropriate since the house was a fixed upper part.
Cabrera ended up selling the house for $295,000 and making a profit of $40,000.
“I should have made more, considering everything I had to go through, but it was a solid investment,” Cabrera said.
Daniel said the best way to ensure this doesn’t happen is to receive possession of the home on closing day.
That means picking up the keys and maybe even doing a final walk-through to make sure everything is in order.
The US Sun also revealed three easy exterior solutions to add more than $17,000 to your home’s resale value.
Plus, there are three tips to “save your back” during your next move, as many Americans prepare to move in the new year.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
