A couple of years ago, a roommate and I found an ad on Craigslist for a 3 bedroom townhouse at $1,500 a month. It seemed too good to be true - it was too good to be true.

The landlords took our rent and deposit and we paid a few more months of rent. We found out that the house was going into foreclosure, and that we would be getting our deposit back from the rental company.

We didn’t end up getting our deposit back, so we squatted in the house for 8 months as the banks kept telling us to leave. 6 or 7 months into the squatting, the banks had people watching us. A sub-contracting company even changed the locks on us and stole about $800 worth of things.

It’s an awful feeling to know that other people have control over where you live and the stuff you have. It’s an awful feeling to come home and fear that all of your possessions are on the street.

Eventually we were able to settle with the bank, but until then we felt very uncomfortable negotiating with the bank. It was just a scary experience - and it wasn’t like we wanted that. We were just looking for a place to live, a place to pay rent for. Eventually we got a bit of money to settle with the banks to help us move out, but until then it was definitely not pleasant.

There was a couple across the street that had rented from the same rental company, and they left way earlier than we did because they didn’t want their child to be affected by the same scare tactics.