Friends in Maui are afraid the same might happen to them. The Historic town of Lahaina completely lost to the flames. Some people there are concerned people may try and fix it up then occupy the land 😒
Tell them companies shouldn't by properties that's " monopoly " and monopoly is forbidden. Tell them the only ppl allowed to buy property are the families. No one can buy more than 5 houses. That's it.
I forgot. If you are a corporation, the only way you can buy property is if the destination is the function of your own office. If not. U can't. ( That's how you protect people ) pass a LAw !
@@RequiemPoeteit was done by the us government to distract people from a failing administration and to get dwayne johnson and oprah more Hawaiian property at all time lows
Remember. 91% of beachfront properties are owned by three large corporations. Black Rock LLC, and two others that are subsidiaries of them by practice but different by name. They've used hurricanes for years to buy a property and have been very very present in Maui either buying up property or outright stealing it due to the mayor and the governor of Hawaii handing it over to them literally on a silver platter saying that the area is contaminated only for them to come in. Level the buildings that did survive the fire and put up their own work sites building mansions and hotels on property that's been owned by the native people of Maui for decades and decades. Do not be fooled.
This is why gentrification is such a sore topic for many. You have neighborhoods that are usually minority majority. Theyve built up the sense of community and character of these areas. You'll have around 50% who own and 50% who rent. As the neighborhood becomes a hot commodity after being ignored by local government and big buisness. You'll have outsiders who get the benefit of the doubt in society such as better loan rates and more disposable income buying up the property which they can afford 2-6xs more elsewhere but they are predatory in your neighborhood. You'll get " karens" moving in being uptight about things people in the area never took issue with like families enjoying weekend get togethers with music, bbq, etc. We also see a issue with private equity firms buying up properties and pricing americans out forcing so many to be life time renters.
@@NAT-turners-Revengebro this isnt about race. Blackrock STARTED by buying up foreclosed homes, duplex's in suburbs, eventually buying entire suburb areas across swaths of states... thats not something that cares about race. It affects us all the same. And it screws us all over
There already are. What part of more regulations do you believe will solve corruption? It's all in "regulatory capture" now. All you are asking for is "more corruption" and "more problems just like this"! We only need just a couple of basic regulations. #1. Only individuals may buy single family homes. #2. Property purchased must have all repairs completed in 1 year or it goes to public domain to be sold at auction. These rules will never be enacted because people like corruption too much! Those like me willing to fight it are kept suppressed by people like you "begging" for it.
We have plenty of regulation on real estate sales. investors aren’t the reason why the market went up it’s the demand and the fact that new development projects basically vanished. All the new homes and apartment buildings built in my area are all in 55+ communities I could afford rent there and I would totally be perfectly fine just being quiet and respectful but I literally don’t qualify so even though it’s nice brand new housing and apartments. I can’t even bother to look in their directions because I’m not allowed to instead I live in, well they’re just worse but still good apartments down the road for more rent than the new development.
@@JcProdi No... "the investors" ARE a big cause of why the market went up just not the only cause. Housing is being "heavily" manipulated right now. The morons that bought in the past 2 years are going to be very sorry for there decisions for a while.
If investors drive prices up, it's also good for everyone else who owns property nearby. You can't control pricing of real estate with government regulation. Look at the rent control system in NYC. The original good intentions have ultimately resulted in making things worse. Nobody who buys real estate has any obligation to improve the community or "fix the neighborhood". If you buy a property with the intention of improving it, but don't come up with the funds to do so in what the govt decides is a timely manner, you'll be ok with being denied the right to sell it as is for a profit and forced to sell for a drastically reduced price which may not even cover your carrying cost and expenses...? Somehow I doubt anyone would be cheering for more govt control anymore. Not to mention the fact that when that happens, you can say goodbye to any future investment there and will only see property values drop, causing every owner to be negatively affected and the neighborhood to decline.
No. Private property is not wrong. Anyone against it is evil. If you don’t like what someone doing to their own property then you can pay them for it. Otherwise Gtfo
Yea other cultures don’t play with their land or property They don’t play that flip property game either They will make an example out of people trying to abuse their powers on their land
It doesn't matter when, or if an owner uses their property. Nobody has the right to take, use, or make any changes to that property. They should have been removed and arrested
That's sounds great and all....except the way these people acquire "ownership" is through fraud. They get a few idiot investors, take that little capital to the bank, then leverage it to buy property. When they get the loan from the bank, they are literally creating currency out of thin air. That currency didn't exist before they created it through debt. It is precisely the same as if you were to print your own currency and buy whatever you want. Your initial capital is the cost of the printer. If you do this, you go to prison for a long, long time. Why are private equity firms and banks allowed to do this? You need to learn how the financial system works before you try to defend those that legally plunder society.
Saving this comment for the future when Blackrock like companies have bought up all the housing and have raised rent exponentially in a 'controlled crisis' fashion.
They didn't "Occupy" the building. They were Trespassing. That's a crime. It's not okay to illegally break into a building, squat, and then complain because they won't let you keep it.
False, they can report it to the city. Then the city contacts the property owner and fines/jails them until they either fixes the issues. There is NO ordinance that allows members of the public to TAKE anything simply because they want to. Period
@@knowledgeispower6192 Actually, there is. You should look into the law more, especially when it comes to abandoned property and the concept of "Squatter's Rights". You may not like what you learn, but it's in the law.
@@Josh-99no right to, but duty i can side with. I would go about doing things legally first to avoid letting hard work go down the drain. Use media to your advantage to get everyone involved. Bad people dont like getting exposed such as the property owners
@@coolspider295 i never said it was acceptable, I just pointed out the law. Legally speaking it's acceptable. However, morally speaking is a different thing altogether.
@@FlickerWanderfoot-rm4em The point of my comment was to highlight that this behavior was immoral. I am sorry if you did not have the reading comprehension to infer this. The law varies depending on country and state.
Squaters around the world are alike. Always stealing property they didn't buy. So if they wanted the building, why didn't they just buy it instead of stealing it. Wouldn't that be the legal way to occupy it?
@@queenbunnyfoofoo6112 I mean... It sat around for a few years with no development. Sounds like it fell in the realm of abandoned property. There is a legal statute of limitations on how long one can neglect their own property before someone else can take it over.
@@sasabnis There's no such thing as "abandoned property ". If the owner stops paying property taxes, then the county can sell the property at a tax sale. Random yahoos can't just start using the property because no one seems to be living there or making improvements.
@@queenbunnyfoofoo6112 "When is Property Considered Abandoned? New Jersey property is generally presumed abandoned if it has remained unclaimed by the owner, or if there has been no activity other than automatic activity (interest posting on a bank account is considered." Varies by state. Abandoned property is a legally defined term.
The sad part is that the investors still made out like bandits for allowing a community to suffer the economic consequences of having abandoned real estate.
Not in this case legally they were not stealing anything, also theft is not a crime, the company abandoned a building and to prevent companies from owning all the land and not doing anything with it squatters rights are in place because these people are using the property for the general help of the people
So they have problems with squatters too. My friend bought his first house a year ago. It was on an online auction. It was pretty much the only way he could afford to buy a house. His plan was to buy a old vacant house and slowly fix it over time until it was livable. He managed to get one for a total of 48 thousand dollars. It was a small 2 bedroom house that was in bad neighborhood. But he was happy that he could get a house at all. But he had no idea that a family squatters had taken over the place. He called the police. But because they had mail being sent to the house for months. There was nothing they could do. He had to go and file an eviction against them and it cost him 200 dollars. Plus it took 3 months to get them out. He couldn’t even start repairs until they were out. Because he thought they would just break or steal anything that was fixed
These people inflate property values and pay taxes at the new value. Cities benefit from the increased tax income. There may be corruption, but there doesn't have to be.
BS. If in the year 2099 all buildings and land everywhere are owned by a wealth generating program you'd be a fool to listen to it. A corporation isn't a person. It's an algorithm. You're nothing but a sl@ve!
Exactly. Doesnt matter how abandoned it appeared it belonged to someone. Since 2017 they should have inquired about the property and bought it, not wait until the owner pops up
The owners were obviously overseas and didn’t really care to take care of it and didn’t do anything to develop it. These are bad property owners, probably a part of a huge real estate conglomerate. These guys are not good for our world. Stop protecting corporatism in the name of “your team”. Conservatism loves the law, freedom, and free market economy but hates corporatism, fascism and socialism.
The owners were obviously overseas and didn’t really care to take care of it and didn’t do anything to develop it. These are bad property owners, probably a part of a huge real estate conglomerate. These guys are not good for our world. Stop protecting corporatism in the name of “your team”. Conservatism loves the law, freedom, and free market economy but hates CORPORATISM, fascism and socialism.
As a Puertorican I'll tell you we occupy buildings, houses, apartments, land with no permission. Sometimes for good, sometimes for bad. Just context for people who don't know.
If you don’t like who’s buying the property.. don’t sell the property to them? You can’t both defend how Puerto Rico is being robbed of its heritage and humanity, while the people are selling their real estate for profit.
Actually you are wrong & woefully Ignorant, P.R. is full of foreign capital.Most of the people that sell property are foreign investors. Take your hatred somewhere else.
We need more of this, in fact we need help on local buying back America. Unfortunately 40 th anniversary of destroying our delicate balance of local owners and operators of their own skills and trade of selling corporate products and services has had terrible effects on local Americans. Supposedly a temporary self sacrifice of gen z ,millineals and gen z has become exhausted.
Owner left the building to rot but had the audacity to try to sell for 3X what they bought it for without even bothering to clean it up, idk how anyone can be upset that these folks cleaned up a derelict space and used it to help their community instead of letting it waste away for greed like the owners were going to do
If you own it you can do whatever you want with it fix it or let it rot nobody made them buy it it's called making a profit nothing's free no matter what the cause your trying to do their lucky they weren't arrested for trespassing in someones building they should have gotten more for it
I was in real estate for a small amount of time. But I've heard about this. I forget what it's called, but it's basically speculation real estate investing. What that means is, someone will buy commercial property in an area that is suffering economically. But the group buying it, has no intention of actually restoring it for housing or business. Their hope is someone else will buy the abandoned building next door, restore it, and that will bring the property value up on their abandoned building, then raise the price, therefore selling it to make a profit. Problem is, too many investment companies have done this that now we have cities of abandoned buildings with everyone waiting on someone else to do the actual renovation.
Glad they won, and this is why I loathe companies like Black Rock as they are presently doing exactly what you have pointed out to where I live. What was 500-800 a month now is 1300-2000 per month. That's after the building was left empty for years.
@@sxar_0660 it's a massive investment company. They own large portions of most major companies, and they've been buying up a ton of real estate all over the country. They buy up entire neighborhoods and artificially inflate the prices and rent. Zillow has been doing the same thing. They're also very much onto social engineering by manipulating the hiring and business practices of major corporations, from media companies to big stores like Target.
@@sxar_0660 It is a investment company buying up house on the dime flipping them for multiple times that they bought them for. Gentrifying the areas they infect.
Why are we feeling sorry for illegal settlers, the property owner should ve charged them for trespassing. They lived there for free. The investors did a huge favor by selling that building for that low price.
Low price? He got almost double that what he had paid when he purchased the place. People like you suck! Why would you take the side of wealthy investors?
"Cleaning up the neighborhood" often means puting a bigger price tag on buildings, preventing poor folks from being able to afford them. Things might look a little nicer, but it screws a lot of people over.
Sadly people that become famous that are from Puerto Rico eventually just leave the island forget about it and only go back to party and fuck around and they talk shit about what is happening in the island but from the US in their comfortable mansions and don’t do anything.
Puerto Rico needs a thing called Land Value Tax. This is to incentivize property owners to invest in the property and generate revenue, provide commodities to communities instead of buying the property, do nothing about it as well as not paying Taxes, and are only using it as an investment to sell it and move somewhere else.
@Disabled.Megatron are you five? you talk like a toddler, and your brain shuts down at the word tax. land value tax means that property tax is based on land value alone. it stops this from happening because you cant turn profit on holding land without improving the land.
That's not a good solution at all, and neither are any of the other solutions I've seen in the comments so far. Paying taxes is nothing to the wealthy and the small land owners such as farmers will end up paying the highest price. The fact is most businesses can afford to shell out a couple thousand dollars in taxes and it will barely affect their bottom line while many small home and land owners will be forced out of their homes. It's the same thing with the carbon tax. It's not going to incentivise rich people to stop flying private planes because they can afford the tax and they'll just write it off as the cost of doing business, while single mothers trying to fill up their cars at the gas tank will be taxed out of the ability to buy gasoline at all. And realistically those taxes aren't going to help the community. All that does is create an industry where the super rich can afford basic necessities that are completely off limits to the general public.
They do since it was refuge and the building was abandoned for years so it’s not stealing if the building is not being used for the community or government but solely profit and Monopoly
@Wolf_O your definition of stealing is not the legal definition of stealing so no. You don't get to just occupy a building because you don't like how the owner is using it.
@@alrbredwall yea you can lmao there’s a whole book of laws about it, granted they make it hard to take possession of abandoned property because it’s usually billionaires who buy all these properties and abandon them so they lobby to make it harder for people to actually use the properties without the billionaires consent but there is still laws that protect those who occupy abandoned buildings
@Wolf_O I am well aware of laws governing such things. This comment proves your ignorance. Laws differ from one area to another and if you a dually analyzed the details of this case what you would find is that they did not have any official right to this property. The deal that the property owner cut them was more out of convenience for them as opposed to necessity. Nice try kid.
@@alrbredwall meaning they did have a right to the property then since it wasn’t much of a case and the property owner gave them the property, they legally are owners of the property
I think every country would benefit from making it so only those with citizenship can buy property. They do this in a few Arab countries. Stops foreign investors coming and making houses unaffordable. This even happens in wealthy countries.
Something like that would never happen in Puerto Rico because all Puerto Ricans are U.S citizens. Even if there are other ways to prove that someone is from the island, the U.S would never allow it because it's against its own interests.
Or just allow private foreign citizens to own one single house after retrieving some special visa. That way people that plan to immigrate or stay for an extended time can buy a house to live in.
This is a great example of people trying to justify their actions. Individuals illegally occupied a building. Helped themselves to renovate it and they called themselves the victims.
The solution isnt occupation Because the occupiers don't usually fix things up either. The solution is to petition your government to tax any investor that doesn't make use of a building or improve its value. We do similar in America where when people talk about companies. Not paying taxes, they actually pay taxes, but what we do is we tax them on money that is paid out but we give him a tax break when they reinvest into the company. So these investors would be paying taxes that make the property unprofitable unless they increase the value of the property through investment.
@@ErikratKhandnalie not what I heard but at least if so, that is more than most squatters do and actually what used to be what you had to do to be considered a squatter for legal rights.
@@waltermh111 most squatters take better care of the building than the "owners". The owners obviously don't care about the state of the buildings, for the simple fact that they abandoned them. The squatters have a direct material interest in keeping the property well cared for because, ya know, they live there.
What do you think about the idea of allowing the same policies with ONE exception... Real estate cannot be bought by those who are taking advantage of the tax benefits. Because it seems to me, real estate in the main problem with foreign investment/immigration.
There's no evidence this was a "foreign investor". In fact, based on the engagement with "community groups" they're almost certainly an American company. And I'm not sure what you mean by "tax benefits". I'm pretty sure Puerto Rico has property taxes, thought I don't know what the rate is. So the investor would have been paying property taxes based on the $108,000 purchase price. In the USA, with rare exceptions (mainly eminent domain), real estate owners can't be FORCED to sell their property. There's no evidence that was the case here. If the property owners didn't want someone to actually BUY the property they shouldn't have sold it.
Looks like the place I stayed at when I was volunteering in Puerto Rico after the hurricane (it was an abandoned building) If that's the same building it was definitely abandoned and NOT fixed or maintained!!
Some people stand by a code, a code of morality can supercede law in my opinion. Doing the right thing isn't always legal, but sometimes the possible consequences r worth helping those in need. These folks have my utmost respect. True warriors.
It’s even more annoying when they talk with a perfect American accent until they get to the words “Puerto Rico” and all of a sudden they have a Spanish accent. Silly woman.
I have gone down there recently and many properties are empty but they should work harder to keep them to the locals because it’s their community and should not allow foreign investments push them out . But in this situation it is trespassing, yet the local government should make laws on upkeep 😊
Companies and Corporations buying residential properties all over America to raise housing costs is a major reason that an average American can not afford to buy a home.
Imagine if governments didn’t inflate away the currency? Then real estate would more or less cease to be an “investment” and housing prices would drop to their utility value.
I looked at some real estate in PR recently. Couldn't believe how much they wanted for run down places. I mean filthy dirty places that looked like they hadn't been cleaned in a decade. I guess it's 3rd world but didn't know
For commercial property, fixing it up is dependent upon the kind of business you will have leasing the building. They likely bought it in foreclosure, but how much was it actually worth?
This is a MAJOR issue in the contiguous United States as well! We desperately need legislation to limit or outright BAN investors/investment groups from buying up properties. They’re able to sweep in and take advantage of distressed priorities (such as foreclosure/bank owned). As the enrich themselves, profiting off their superficial “improvements” they only drive up property prices and add more turmoil to an already volatile housing crisis!
This is how markets work, if 1 person or company came and bought up the whole island and displaced locals that is one thing but if I buy a foreclosure home there are high chances the place need lot of money and work before can be rented or put back on market so I put lot of time effort and money to make some money back boo hoo
That's why many properties are priced so high but tend to remain abondoned. Investors purchase the property expecting to make money on the sale while letting the property deteriorate.
Happens far too often in places that need help. They just buy this property and do nothing with it. You got places like St Louis where there are just blocks of boarding up houses that are owned by outside entities that aren't doing anything with them. They're just waiting on enough people to leave the neighborhood so they can get the people in there that they want💯. Kills me to see this. Glad your bringing attention to it and helping.
Seriously??? The excuse was to help out after a disaster but then they didn’t want to leave? Just because a building looks gutted or abandoned doesn’t meant that you can take it over and keep it. That’s absolute lawlessness, and more reason not to buy property on the island. The entitlement mentality runs deep among today’s locals. Property rights don’t seem to mean anything to them, just as long as it only hurts “the outsiders”.
Yeah that sounds about right after a tragic event. One can swat on a abandoned building. Fix it up and make it a business home. Can be a negotiator at the table of owning the property
I'm glad these people were able to obtain this building and using it to do good. I won't comment on the aspect of these types of companies which do these things because ot would be way too long, and thus no one would read it, because the general populations of the world have been conditioned for decades to have a very low patience level and attention span. And this is exactly why everything is a mess today, everything is going so wrong, everywhere.
So I used to work in appraisal evaluations. Got a lot of reviews from Puerto Rico. Will say most of the SFR or Multi-family houses. Across my desk were dilapidated and in disrepair. Odd thing was most were owned by banks or investment groups.
As a Puerto Rican, I am so ashamed of this reporting. Instead of trespassing and squatting, they should have legally taken the steps necessary to purchase the property OR find another one to buy. All they had to do was talk to the owner and see if they could negotiate. Heck, why not do a GoFund to purchase the property and be an example. I’m appalled and disgusted about how stealing is glorified.
The investor likely bought the property for redevelopment...meaning the value is the land, not the building on it. Many investors buy property like this and hold on to it until the economic conditions are right for redevelopment. 99% of the time, developers DO improve a community. It's a fact that you can deny all day long, but it's still a fact.
It's sooooo encouraging to hear a story like this. Here the enternal struggle of twisted self-interest and healthy mutual interest plays out... and we get to see the greater good for all involved. Yesssss... 👍🏾❤🙏🏾🔥👊🏾
Private property is private for a reason. Occupying a building without permission or a legal contract is a crime. Respecting other people's rights leads to peace. I'm glad that the occupiers reached an agreement with the owners.
Could you also cover how its happening in Hawaii too? I dont thunk enough people in America know about all those people losing their homes and land. Its a trajedy the way wealth and ownership have been built and continues.
They need to start adding in clauses on commercial real estate that if a large corporation is going to buy the property that they are required to do a certain level of fixing and maintenance on the building to maintain appropriate appearance and functionality.
Yeah, property hoarding until the housing shortage raises the housing market prices ridiculously high is a common practice, even here in London, England.
Buy the building and land. Let the building become condemned. Demolish building but keep the land. Develop on the land for tourism ( using that for a generic idea) drive up prices of the land. Sell on the beginning of decline for 5xs the worth. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Good on the people for stopping that move.
Yo me acuerdo que en el 2020 le monte Wi-Fi a este sitio con un grupo de voluntarios. No sabia la historia detras del sitio. Pero estaban ayudando a muchos diabulantes y gente con falta de alimentos.
We need a fair chance bill, something that puts properties under the radar of actual people first and foremost and only sells to investors if no one wants it or the property is unusable
While I don't like squatting, Though if it genuinely seems abandoned, I can understand. On the other hand, you never know who has what plans for something. It could be that it was bought for a specific person or group to work on in the future. I'm torn on this.
Do they have adverse possession over there? In many US states as long as they satisfied certain requirements they would then legally own the property after occupying it openly for a certain period of time and making improvements to it.
When squatters occupy homes here, they get to stay for free for a pretty long time depending on the state. Usually, they destroy it, so by the time the owner does get them out, it is usually going to cost them half of what it is worth - not to mention lawyer/court costs. So, being paid a fair price for the occupied property at the end of it, would be pretty remarkable.
I'm against greedy corporations and I believe something needs to be done to enable more average folks to afford land and homes, but at the same time, I respect ownership, if it doesn't belong to you, you have no business "occupying" it, it's not yours.
Believe it or not investors buying property is one of the ways neighborhoods are lifted out of poverty. When they buy property and sell it for more it raises everyone's property values. Making homes worth more also. Allowing people to get loans with better interest rates. To build more businesses. Allowing people to get better jobs, and make more money and thus helping people get out of poverty. Some investors are indeed predatory, but this can even have a positive impact on a neighborhood.
Yeah it was legally still their building. The group made the right decision by purchasing it from the original investor since abandoned or not, it was legally their property. And I'm happy that property is being put to good use now.
There needs to be laws that corporations and businesses cant buy too much property or leave it vacant for years, i think a fine of 1m or 1bn per MONTH its vacant will change that. But those fines would just line the pockets of the politicians who mafe it happen and give 1% back to the community in shitty ass repairs
All I ever see these “investors” doing is buying up every piece of property they possibly can and then leaving them empty for years. If you have that kind of money, you should be finding folks who reliably pay the rent on their apartment and offering them one of these houses at a fair price. Maybe the economy could recover if it weren’t for the fact that the past three generations have all been one month away from homelessness for their entire lives. I miss knowing that the family home was always there is you needed somewhere you go if things went badly for you.
I own and manage a few million in Real Estate. That’s not an “investor” that’s a corporation pulling company town bullshit. Anyone who actually is in the trade would never get their building degraded to that point because it’s a living hell to fix it.
