He’s the Eastside real-estate agent who, two months ago while prepping for an open house to sell a $3.3 million mansion in Kirkland, was stunned to find that complete strangers had moved in and were staking a tortured legal claim to the foreclosed property.
The squatters story went national. It was an apt symbol of the housing meltdown. At the time, I wrote that “mansion squatting” might be the “most naked expression yet of what the crash was all about — the lure of something for nothing.”
Now, I swear I didn’t mean the word “naked” literally. But I’ll get to that twist in a minute.
Von der Burg says that while the mansion-squatting story may have been entertaining — it ended when police retook control of the house for the bank that owned it — it cost his client, a bank, $35,000 in legal fees and bills for locksmiths, security and cleanup. So count him as not amused that this week, the same team of squatters apparently attempted to stake claims to three new mansions on the Eastside — including a $2.2 million, 5,000-square-foot Craftsman in Bellevue for which von der Burg is, once again, the listing agent.
“These people need to be stopped,” he said. “How long are we going to let this go on?”
Police say no one has as yet moved into any of the houses. But all three had letters tacked to the front doors ordering anyone claiming ownership “to surrender possession within three days.” And then threatening “judicial proceedings” against anyone who doesn’t comply.
The name and signature of James McClung was on all three letters. He’s a former Bothell real-estate agent and owner of NW Note Elimination, a company he runs with Jill Lane — the woman who was arrested for squatting in the Kirkland mansion in June.
Neither McClung nor Lane got back to me this week. But both said in June that despite being kicked out of the Kirkland mansion, they had a list of at least 10 other houses in the Seattle area to which they intended to stake claims. All the houses were tied to bank failures — the bank holding the loan on the properties had gone under and had its assets transferred to another bank, or to the federal government.
The pair hopes that the actual documentation of who owns these properties was mislaid or improperly recorded as mortgages were divided and resold on Wall Street during the bubble years. It has become a strategy in foreclosure cases around the country to force banks to “show me the note.”
Even if the banks can’t, why these two should get these houses is beyond me. And also beyond the police.
“It’s becoming exasperating,” said Capt. Mike Ursino, of the Kirkland police. (Two of the new targeted properties are in Kirkland.) “McClung’s thinking is that if he keeps trying, one day he’s going to win and he’ll miraculously have a million-dollar house.
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