Squatting…on a different level!
Eric Goldshein from The Business Insider reports on several interesting uses for foreclosed homes. In Nevada, industrious drug dealers, are turning abandoned, foreclosed homes into grow houses…..rent free! College students in California (and I’m sure in the other 49 states as well) are able to rent houses at a fraction of the market rate. My assumption is that the “landlords” are the current owners (if they have not been foreclosed on) or previous owners (if they have been foreclosed on). These folks aren’t paying their mortgage, but they are collecting rent.
So if there is a smoke with a funny odor coming out of the foreclosed house next to you, call the cops!
Foreclosed Homes Are Now Being Used As College Dorms And Pot Farms
By: Eric Goldshein
The Business Insider
There’s no reason to be happy about the housing market nowadays — unless you’re a college student in California or a pot farmer.
These two demographics are taking advantage of high foreclosure rates, with varying levels of success.
University of California students are renting foreclosed homes in the city of Merced, which has the third-highest foreclosure rate in the country, for around $250-$300 a month per student, according to the NY Times (via Curbed).
Living alongside neighbors who are paying $3,000 a month on their mortgages, Merced students are living a lifestyle most college kids could only dream about, complete with granite counter tops and marble baths.
Meanwhile, Nevada’s pot growers are turning foreclosed homes into greenhouses, according to the LA Times (also via Curbed). Entire houses have been turned into grow rooms, which can help farmers turn a massive profit (the DEA puts a pound of hydroponically grown marijuana at about $3,000).
This year alone, authorities have busted 130 indoor sites in Nevada, up from 18 in 2005. That’s still a way to go to catch California’s numbers, but in both cases a trend has certainly developed.