Find the best financial services for you at: SMARTFINANCESOLUTIONS.NET - Do I really need a lawyer to get rid of a squatter in California? - in 2005 my parents bought a house in Palmdale, CA.; Assuming that since the real estate company we went to was owned by a cousin of ours and since my sister was working with the company at the time, I have little knowledge of the transaction that was made to buy the house. From what I have understood, however, was that the mortgage that my parents bought into was a fraud, as many were at the time because they were pressured to finance the house without knowing the fine print of the contract; this resulted in them paying high prices for a house that depreciated in value over time. In any case, the damage was done and they resolved to put the first house in short sale while they bought another house for a low price, which is a house that we live in now. br br About 3 months later, the first house they owned never sold and they found out at the time that there were squatters in the house.