Adverse Possession isn't really obscure; most Property courses in law school give it a full class session and most states have such statutes. You might actually start seeing a lot of this in Hella Housing Bust areas like Las Vegas, provided the banks let you get away with it.
This happened exactly like it was supposed to. AP exists because people abandon real property all the time and it's just sitting there being unproductive if nobody's using it, so getting that property productive again is waaaay preferable to vindicating rights the holder of those rights is clearly showing no interest in vindicating. Nobody could sell it, the house was abandoned, and even if an AP on a 300k house tanks property values the drop is nowhere near what it would be if it were still empty a few years from now. I wonder what the problem is! Let's check the video!
Oh, hey! He's black!