house stolen, true or false!

Probably a more serious hazard is a squatter occupying your property if it is unoccupied, for example a vacation home. There are ways to evict them, but it can get complicated. You generally cannot force them to leave at gunpoint. As mentioned above, your county will normally have a recorder who files all land titles, and these days, the records are computerized and accessible by you 24/7. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to occasionally access the property records using your computer, just to make sure your property remains recorded in your name and no surprise liens have been filed against it.
 
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Kevin J. said:
Our county offers a free service that will notify by email of any liens, changes, or other activity on your property title. Much like my credit card company texts me every time there is a charge.
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Same here. It just notified me by email of the 'Transfer on Death' deed that was filed by Mom's estate lawyers. Nice to know it works like it should.
 
JohnRippert said:
Same here. It just notified me by email of the 'Transfer on Death' deed that was filed by Mom's estate lawyers. Nice to know it works like it should.
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Everyone should be aware of a Transfer on Death Deed (TODD) IF your state allows them. It is simple to do, and a lawyer is not required if you follow the state requirements. I have personally prepared three of them. A very clean and neat way to transfer real estate to an heir or heirs without the hassle and expense of probate if you can legally do it in your state.
 
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DWalt said:
Everyone should be aware of a Transfer on Death Deed (TODD) IF your state allows them. It is simple to do, and a lawyer is not required if you follow the state requirements. I have personally prepared three of them. A very clean and neat way to transfer real estate to an heir or heirs without probate if you can legally do it in your state.
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Yes, I did not need to use the lawyers to take care of it, but as much as we paid them to take care of the probate I figured to get as much for the money as possible. They also filled out all the paperwork for my homestead exemption as well.
 
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My first TODD was done for my B-I-L on death’s doorstep who owned his home in his own name and had no will. I quickly whipped out a TODD to transfer it to his daughter and filed it. I did have to find a Notary Public who would come to the hospital to witness his signature. The daughter then sold the house the regular way. Everything was very easy, probate avoided. My second TODD was under very similar circumstances, but it involved a friend of my wife. Same result, probate avoided.
 
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The county where I live in Central Florida is one of the few in the state where they provide you with the option to immediately be notified of any activity occurring with the title to any house or other real estate that you own. The supposedly notify you within 24 hours of nearly any activity involving change of ownership, liens, new mortgages and etc. This is above and beyond basic requests for information (like looking up past sales prices, current/past ownership, location specifics, and such), which are not reported to you. I signed up online.

Supposedly things can happen without your knowledge, such as someone putting a lien on your home, applying for a second mortgage in your name, or attempting to transfer ownership without you ever knowing about it unless you check for yourself. This goes hand-in-glove with some degree of identity fraud.
 
Capt Steve said:
I spent nearly 20 years in Title insurance as a technician {Tile officer} and a lot of time in management. I taught college classes on Title insurance law and appeared in several trials dealing with forgeries and even did an hour in front of the Grand Jury testifying in a forgery/fraud case. Permit me to share a few things...

If someone forges a deed to your property and then sells or encumbers it by putting a loan against the property it is NOT your problem. No lender is going to loan anyone a dime without a policy of title insurance protecting the lender. That ALTA {American Land Title Association} lenders policy among other protections covers loss due to forgery.

If a lender tries to foreclose on your property based upon a loan that was forged it is the lender's and ultimately their title insurance companies problem. You cannot legally encumber property you do not own.

If a bad guy sells a property that they acquired through a forged deed {of any kind} to an innocent third party again it is not the actual owners problem. If the buyer got an Owners policy of title insurance it too provides coverage against loss due to forgery. If the buyer was foolish enough to not have gotten a policy then they are likely screwed as the actual owner still legally owns the property.

Yes, there are lots of companies out there trying to scam you out of money by offering protection that you in all likelihood already have. Buying this coverage is simply searching for a solution for which there is no known problem... the government does this a lot, but I digress. As noted above many counties offer free title monitoring services which is probably a good idea but not a substitute for an actual policy of title insurance.

In most {but certainly not all} venues the buyers Owners Policy of Title Insurance is typically paid for by the seller which is appropriate. Who better to bear the cost of guarantying the buyers title than the seller. When you are purchasing a home always insist on the buyer providing you with an ALTA Owners policy of title Insurance. But, the cost of title insurance like most things in any business transaction is always negotiateable. NEVER buy real estate without being protected even if you have to bear the cost of the policy.

Full disclosure... i have been out of the title business for 30 years but in that time have purchased/sold a number of properties in California and Arizona. When in doubt seek competent legal advice.
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Capt, thank you very much for the well written response. Lots of good info there!


Also a nice thank you to all that responded. So much going on now and so many on the TV selling snake oil!
 
Sounds like the scammer would collect a down payment, then disappear since the banks wouldn't proceed on such a deal. So each fake sale could generate tens of thousands of dollars potentially.
 
What institution would lend money on a property without an inspection of some type and an appraisal ? Mortgages require a Homeowners Insurance policy also . A lot of things have to come together .
 
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