Dunedin, FL · Member since 2017 · 33 posts · 5 votes
Has any one had any issues (or ever heard of anyone who has) with chain of title when buying a property thats been entered in to MERS. Im looking at a duplex now and this system appears in the mortgage of the current owner which I pulled off of public record. I invite anyone who's not familiar with this system to listen to the Joe Fairless podcast 'Best Real Estate Advice Ever' episode 1087 for a full explanation of what this is and why its a threat to investors. I'm specifically looking to find out of its as serious of a threat as this guy makes it out to be and if so, how does the process work to "quiet the title" in my name and a ballpark figure of how much that would cost. The guest on that episode says "gobs of money." I don't know the conversion of gobs to dollars, but I'm guessing it's a lot. I'm waiting on a call back from my attorney to see if he's familiar with this issue.
Whether a mtg was ever parked with MERS is of absolutely no concern, benefit, defect......it has no effect whatsoever. Anyone stating this invalidates or weakens the standing of a said mtg is simply full of sh$t and has no credibility whatsoever. Some foreclosure defense attorneys, and some scammers (not necessarily mutually exclusive) tried to make arguments that using MERS instead of recording and paying fees in the local recorder' office somehow made them less enforcable, absolute total crap.
And yeah, one of the main components of the scammers spin on MERS was that they could win quiet title suits against banks that used MERS. Not One person has ever successfully done this. For a little example, Google up Fidelity Land Trust in Florida......key words, scam, homeowners, attorney general issues cease and desist order, attorney general seizes Fidelity's assets, etc.
MERS in itself should have nothing to do with the validity of the title? I don't know who the podcast speaker is but if they claim otherwise I'd put into question other things they say.
I'm an abstractor and MERS has no bearing on title. Actually mortgages themselves do not transfer title, deeds do that and they are filed in conveyances. In any transaction you always have a deed. If there is a contract, whether with a bank or individual, to pay that property off through time, then that is filed in mortgages.
Banks are supposed to record changes in ownership of their mortgages (they sell the mortgage to someone else, they change names, etc) every single time in the county/parish where the property is located. This is so people like me can track the ownership of property. You have to file property records, mortgages, money judgments, etc in the public record in order for them to actionable against third parties. The various local and state laws can make the requirement cumbersome, MERS merely makes that process easier for them to stay in compliance with literally thousands of local and state rules regarding public records throughout the country. It's been around since the 90's.
Right, and to that point the guy wrote a book called Clouded Titles (i think) and his claim was that back in the 90's when the banks were finally allowed to play in the securities arena the MERS system was put in to place but when the banks utilized it they did so incorrectly (most likely on purpose to expedite the process) 100% of the time, and so of the 70 million or so titles that were put in to the system each and every property title could not by any means be traced, because the banks instead of going A, B, C, D just went from A - D and then shredded all the physical titles after they were loaded electronically. Now I've not read the book I've only listened to that podcast but it seemed legit to hear it told chronologically. I dont know what to think about it but to quote my girlfriend it does seem kind of "chicken little the sky is falling bull s**t," but there may be a shred a validity to it. Dunno