Welcome to the foreclosure Twilight Zone, where a distressed homeowner struggles to save his property from bank repossession, while at the same time, attempts to evict the illegal Occupy Wall Street protesters who set up shop in his living room when he (unwisely) decided to leave.

Such is the curious case of Wise Ahadzi, a single father with two young girls, who vacated his house in Brooklyn, N.Y., when he could no longer afford to pay the mortgage. He apparently didn’t realize that he could remain in the home until the foreclosure was complete. In fact, the lender has recently confirmed that he is still the rightful owner of the property until the foreclosure process has run its full course.

Meanwhile, “Occupy” members targeted his house and vowed to fix it up and move in a new family, looking make a bold statement against the major financial institutions that the movement blames for the current economic crisis in the United States.

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Slow ride, take it easy …

Many Americans are taking the Foghat approach to living these days, unable (or unwilling) to meet their monthly mortgage obligations and, in the process, living rent-free until theirs lenders evict them from their homes.

And with the average distressed homeowner able to live like this for nearly two years (674 days) it’s actually emerged as a popular “strategic” move because of the economic hardship plaguing millions throughout the nation. Indeed, according to a recent CNN Money report, nearly 40 percent of homeowners in default have not paid their lenders a single penny throughout the entire foreclosure process.

The other 60 percent in distress have made some sort of payment(s), ”looking for ways to make good with lenders and get their homes back.”

So how is it possible to live in a home for so long without paying a mortgage?

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Abandoned, empty homes apparently do more than attract illegal squatters and vandals.

Foreclosed homes in Las Vegas, Nevada, and elsewhere are “going to pot,” literally, according to the Los Angeles Times. Marijuana “grow houses” are no longer set up in the seedy outskirts of society, but rather nestled among well-to-do, albeit distressed, neighborhoods.

And the nationwide housing crisis is apparently one of the many factors fueling the “pot home problem.”

William Sousa, a criminologist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, explains:

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What is adverse possession? We touched on it more than a year ago when it happened on Washington. To read the article click here.

Foreclosed homes can often sit vacant for months, even a year or more, until the banks are able to market and sell them effectively.

Many homes even sit vacant for months before the foreclosure process begins, with cash-strapped homeowners just “walking away” because they see the writing on the wall.

It doesn’t take long to notice a foreclosure: Untidy yards, tall grass and overstuffed mailboxes are dead giveaways that no one is home.

These signs often attract a criminal element and scavengers who are looking to strip empty houses of anything valuable and resell it elsewhere for cash.

It’s a sad situation. And one that made Jill Lane of Seattle, Wash., downright ill.

So she decided to do something about it, moving into an abandoned $3.3 million mansion, changing the locks and doing everything else as if she and her family were the rightful owners.

There was just one problem: They clearly weren’t. She was arrested on charges of trespassing two weeks after she set up shop, according to Money Central.

But Jill is certainly not alone. “Squatters” are throwing stakes their stakes down just about everywhere throughout the nation, in some cases, claiming “adverse possession.”

What’s adverse possession? Here’s a brief description:

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