patrick.net

shrekgrinch says

laws inflicted on property owners by do-gooder Democrats to make it even more of a bitch.

I would submit to you that if she would have spent $100.00 a month or so for a good management company, this would have never happened to her. She was in over her head and probably a nice lady trying to do the tenant a favor in the beginning instead of looking at this as a business, and in her position, with very little cushion and wiggle room. She also should not have put herself in the financial position of allowing the actions of a tenant to put her entire life into crisis mode. Having an emergency fund turns a crisis into an inconvenience. If she had a good management company they would have immediately served the tenant with a 3 day or quit notice and then it would have been sent off to the attorney for eviction and it would have been done quickly, even in CA.

Here's the property in question. Without a doubt, the scammer/renter should have the book thrown at her (what do you do with someone that already has $40+k of judgments racked up?) Clearly the homeowner needed both renters to survive. Then there's the matter of the refies, which may have had something to do with her downfall (or perhaps they were needed to make up the rental shortfall?):
9/29/2000 Trust Deed - First Nationwide
2/09/2001 Trust Deed - Green Point Mortgage
1/23/2002 Trust Deed - WaMu
2/26/2002 Trust Deed - Wells Fargo
7/01/2003 Trust Deed - IndyMac
9/29/2006 Trust Deed - IndyMac
5/30/2007 Trust Deed - Green Point Mortgage
6/09/2010 NOTS

what was the outstanding note on the court steps? She was living off HELOCs ?

According to the listing, one of rentals is legal. The other is not. The article says that the renter from hell chased out the other renter, but that doesn't explain why the owner didn't get another renter in there - so there's more to the story. If the landlord was trying to rent out an illegal unit, that could be a problem that the renter from hell could exploit. The landlord lived there ten years and never made the place legal? Wonder why.

I find it hard to believe that the owner's financial problems are solely attributed to this renter. If indeed she was able to get seven different loans against the property - many with entities well-known for crappy loans and pre-payment penalties - seems like she had problems that started long before the renter from hell moved in.

The article said that the renter moved in February 2009. According to the info posted by EBguy, the last trust deed was recorded May 2007. Seems like one had nothing to do with the other.

It makes for a good story, but it appears that the only story there is that a woman was scammed by a renter from hell but would have lost the property anyway.