Americans Can Sure Teach Israel A Thing About "Settlements"

It happened in Seattle and it's called "squatting":-

Squatters cozy up in mansion

The 8,000-square-foot mansion was dark and in foreclosure for years. So last weekend when the for-sale signs came down and the lights lit up...But then some new signs went up.

"No trespassing," the signs say. "Privately owned property. Not for sale."

That's odd, neighbors thought. The West of Market neighborhood in Kirkland is friendly, easygoing. So one of them called the real-estate agent to ask what was up.

What he said floored them. The house is still for sale for $3.3 million. Whoever is living there had broken in. They're squatters...said another neighbor, who asked me not to print her name: "It takes some real guts to just waltz into a house like that, I'll give them that."

..."Elevator to the theater, wine cellar & tasting room, game room, recreation room, nanny's quarters, den/library, culinary artist's kitchen, bonus room and the lavish master suite & bath," reads a listing from 2008, when the house was for sale for $5.8 million. If you're going to squat, might as well do it in style.

Kirkland police...don't tend to get involved in landownership disputes and so haven't done anything, yet, to remove them.

The house's history is like a recap of the economic meltdown...the builder defaulted on it in 2008 and the mansion went into foreclosure. It ended up in the hands of Venture Bank, in Lacey, Thurston County. Then that bank failed too many defaulted loans and was seized by the feds. So the house went to another bank, called First Citizens, which, according to legal documents on file at King County, now owns it.

Or so they think they own it.

A form posted on the door of the house by its new "tenants" says "all rights, interest and title in said property" has been transferred to something called the "Priority Rose Children's Outreach" in Bothell.

That's a charity that was incorporated only two weeks ago, according to the state Secretary of State's Office. Its purpose is listed as "spiritual training for adults and children in a religious safe environment for the development of all mankind."

..."The idea is that with this economy, people are looking for any kind of real-estate loophole they can find," said Sgt. Robert Saloum of the Kirkland Police.

But squatting? In somebody else's home?

...The actual owner, First Citizens Bank, is now trying to get them evicted ג€” a civil-court process that can take months...