Neighbors discover squatters at vacant homes

On New Year's Eve, a middle-class neighborhood in southwest Las Vegas discovered new neighbors in foreclosed and formerly vacant homes.

James Totland, a nearby resident, said the new residents appeared to be squatters.

"It's insane," Totland said. "It's scary really."

Real estate saleswoman JoAnn'E Verry and broker Scott Hurlburt reached the same conclusion. The new residents were intruders who were trespassing, the real estate sales people said. They enlisted the help of Las Vegas police Thursday in evicting the squatters.

"I've never seen anything like this before," Hurlburt said, as he watched the intruders carry out furniture and personal possessions after police ordered them out.

"This is something that is caused because houses are vacant," Hurlburt said.

The Greater Las Vegas Board of Realtors calculates that about 45 percent of the 22,005 single-family houses on the market are vacant as the area struggles to recover from a residential realty bust.

But squatters remain uncommon in the Las Vegas area, said Patty Kelly, president of the Realtors board.

"It's really somewhat of a rare occurrence that comes up," Kelly said. More often, homeless people or people who were evicted break into homes, she said.

Jim Dunkle, owner of Las Vegas Security Patrol, agreed: "This is the first I've ever heard of a thing like this. It's a common occurrence that you get homeless people into beat-up old homes and buildings."

Verry said the squatters came from Anaheim, Calif., but they had no vehicle.

When she confronted the residents in a home in the 7500 block of Slipstream Street, they said that they had rented the foreclosed house, which Verry is trying to sell for IndyMac Bank.

They showed her a document that she said was obviously forged and named a nonexistent rental company.

Confronted by a Review-Journal reporter, a woman who identified herself as Tammy said she was the occupant of the house on Slipstream Street.

"We were scammed. That's all I know," she said.

Tammy said she was renting the Slipstream house, but she was unable to say how the rental agent could be reached.

Verry told the group to leave the Slipstream property by 1 p.m. Thursday, when police would arrive. The individuals then moved down the street to another vacant home in the 9500 block of Rustic Galleon Street, which was foreclosed and is owned by Countrywide Home Loans. How many people were living in either house was unknown.

The police directed the residents to leave the Rustic Galleon house.

The home on Slipstream Street, which was built in 2004, listed for $229,000. The asking price for the home on Rustic Galleon was $307,000.

Police officers referred questions to a sergeant who could not be reached for comment. The police public information office did not respond to a call about the prevalence of squatters in Las Vegas.

Contact reporter John G. Edwards at jedwards@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0420.