9 Investigates squatters living in foreclosed homes

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — For Susan Shaw, the house in Concord where she raised her three daughters will always be home.

“It was a great home for my kids to grow up in,” she said as she stood alongside her youngest, Faith, who is now 16.

Faith was born with cystic fibrosis, and 1 1/2 years ago she spent a month in the hospital with a serious lung infection.

The medical bills were overwhelming, and after a dozen years, Shaw was forced to walk away from her mortgage and her home.

“It was heartbreaking. It wasn't the way I wanted to leave things but I had to put her health first,” she said.

But several months after they moved out, a neighbor called to tell her someone else had moved in.

Shaw was stunned.

“They had a lease that appeared to be fraudulent. They had a quick claim deed that was apparently signed by me, but it wasn't my signature,” she said.

The house was owned by the bank, and the new residents were squatters. They stayed for almost a year, while Shaw and her former neighbors wondered how.

“They had electricity. I don't know who was paying the bill. They had cable. They had cable put in while they were there,” said Joan Alley, who lives down the street.

For Shaw, it was personal.

“I'd left the house but I felt angry that somebody was living in what I considered my home at what was no cost, basically," Shaw said.

She is not the only one to have that heartbreak.

“I've personally seen it several times in the past year and I know it's happening more and more,” Jack Capitano said.

Capitano is a Charlotte real estate attorney who has taken squatters to court to try and get them out.

He said it can often take months or even years.

In many cases, he said, the squatters know that.

“I've seen some folks who seem almost to be professionals at this.  They know what they're doing, they know what buttons to push, they know how to do just enough to keep you from getting them out easily,” Capitano said.

Demario Rushing may be one of those so called professionals.

In April, court records show squatters in a north Charlotte home claimed they were paying rent to Rushing.

Court records also show that Rushing claimed to be living at another home several miles away that was also in foreclosure.

Last week, Eyewitness News found someone else living in that home, but when Rushing showed up, he refused to answer questions or to say if he collecting rent from them.

(Click PLAY to watch as Reporter Mark Becker confronts Rushing)

Even police are often frustrated that they can’t do more to get squatters out.

“We're dealing with 21st-century crimes still using 19th and 20th-century laws,” Detective Andrew Phillips, who investigates fraud cases for CMPD, said.

Phillips said police can charge squatters with trespassing but it often takes months for those cases to go through court and the squatters simply stay put until the case is finished.

He said homeowners, usually banks in foreclosures, can have the squatters evicted but that can also take months, and Jack Capitano said many banks don’t seem interested in pushing it.

“A lot of times I assume they’re trying to figure out what they’re going to do with the property,” Capitano said.

Shaw said that’s probably what happened in her case.

“Personally, I think it's neglect on the bank's part,” she said.

The squatters did finally move out earlier this summer, as quickly as they moved in, and without facing any charges.

Shaw said they left her home in dire need of a makeover, which made her and many others wonder what’s wrong with the picture.

“It felt personal.  Even though I was giving the house back, it felt personal,” Shaw said.

Cox Media Group