Nobody likes squatters, especially homeowners who find their property suddenly taken over by strangers. Unfortunately, that was the issue Marco Velazquez had to face. The Chicago man learned from his realtor that a couple had taken over his property in Illinois. The squatters claimed they had recently purchased the property. When the police arrived, they showed a mortgage document, which turned out to be fake, as Cook County confirmed that they had no record of such a mortgage. One would think this should be enough to remove the squatters, but the police stated they couldn’t do anything. The only legal path Velazquez could take was to go to civil court, which he didn’t want to pursue, knowing it could take months to evict the couple.
The Chicago man then had the idea to stay in the house that the squatters were claiming. The plan was to annoy the couple into leaving. He also invited his wife and several friends to stay for a day. The group remained in the living room, keeping an eye on the door, while the squatters hid in the bedroom. Velazquez confronted the couple the following morning. Unfortunately, they were more stubborn than he expected. Fearing that the squatters might continue to stay in his home, he ended up giving them $4,300 to make them leave. He said that he had heard bad stories and didn’t want to take the risk.
Later on, the man received new information from a Chicago police detective. They said that the couple he encountered was a repeat offender. The woman had also squatted in another house, using the same scheme, claiming to have bought the property and showing a fake mortgage document. After hearing the story, he is now considering pursuing a legal case against the squatters.
Hearing Velazquez’s tale, some people found the situation humorous. Not many would think of staying at the same house as squatters in an attempt to get them to leave. One Redditor said, “I guess he took the phrase ‘If ya can’t beat ’em, join ’em!’ to a very literal conclusion.”
Others were frustrated with how the story ended, disliking that Velazquez had to pay the squatters to leave his property. Some users commented that it’s actually possible to pay others to stay with squatters to get them to leave. However, they warned, “If this becomes a popular service, I bet eventually we’ll see squatter helpers in cahoots with the squatters.”
