Isn't there something more county recorders can do to prevent this type of scam? I mean you can't even change your mailing address with your credit card company without them sending a notice to your old address just to confirm you indeed changed it. Shouldn't the recording of a deed require notifying the owner of record of the change?
Some lessons from this case?
#1 - Always purchase title insurance.
#2 - Be extra cautious when the seller has only owned the property for a brief period? (flipper comments?)
#3 - Contact the previous seller to confirm the sale?
In LA county, whenever a deed gets recorded, the current owner does get mailed, but it can take a couple of weeks.
I guess if you have no previous working history with the seller, it would be a good idea to contact the previous owner to make sure the transfer was legit. Yikes.
In LA county, whenever a deed gets recorded, the current owner does get mailed, but it can take a couple of weeks.
I guess if you have no previous working history with the seller, it would be a good idea to contact the previous owner to make sure the transfer was legit. Yikes.
As to your points:
#1. Not so necessary if you are buying at sheriff sale IMO.
#3. If I am flipping one that I bought at sheriff sale, where the previous owner is now in parts unknown - well, that's not going to mean much in this case.
As for buying REO, the title on these can transfer many times betwen different banking type institutions like mortgage insurers, mortgage guarantors (think Fannie, Freddie, VA, FHA) and banks. And I often see banks have a "holding company" that they use to do the actual foreclosure and to take title (my guess is to limit the bank's exposure to liability). So with all of that, it can get pretty ugly. We recently researched a property that had lots of $1 transfers between a number of banking entities.