Don’t Pay for a Freebie
For those of you that don’t know, I just recently moved from a condo into a house. As a Realtor, you would think I have the timeline of when things are suppose to happen pretty well memorized. So you can imagine my surprise this past week when I get this official-looking letter in the mail with instructions on how to order an official copy of the deed to my property.
I must’ve flipped the letter over two or three times (it was front and back) before I realized this was just some shifty person’s way of making a quick buck. You see, here’s a perfect example of someone (or some official-looking company/LLC in this case) that thought they could get involved in a real estate transaction that didn’t involve them… and do so after the transaction was done!
This company prints up cool-looking, official-like letters and mails them out to everyone that buys property in a given area, which is easy to do since these transactions are of public record and are even printed in the newspaper. With many newspapers going online, one could do this from anywhere. They tell you in their letter that if you haven’t yet received the certified copy of the deed to your house to respond to this letter and they will send it to you.
The problem with this you ask?! Most people buy homes with a loan… a mortgage. Some mortgage companies do not send you a copy of the deed or do so well after the transaction has been completed. The original, signed deed is filed with the county auditor’s office and anyone can go into the county auditor’s office and review those documents at any time. For a fee you can have them print you a copy. In some technology-savvy counties you can just do this online.
So when Joe Homeowner goes back into his house and starts hunting for his certified copy of his deed, he realizes he doesn’t have one. He then responds to this dressed up advertisement and pays them an ungodly sum (I think they wanted $67.50 or some odd but specific amount from me) plus whatever fee the county charges them - the company - to get the copy of the deed plus postage and handling to send it to you.
Oh yeah, and one more thing. In tiny, tiny print at the bottom of the document they disclose that they are not a government department or affiliation and that many of these deeds are available directly from the issuing agency. Nevermind the fact that they named their company something official sounding and mailed out all these letters asking you to order your certified copy of your deed.
Save your money. Do one of the following to track down a copy of your deed for your records: call your mortgage company and ask them to send you a copy, or the title agency/closing agency/attorney that handled the transaction, or call the county auditor’s office directly to get a copy if you want one. Don’t panic because you don’t have a copy, as long as it’s filed with the county you are o.k. But do make sure it’s filed with the county. And do make sure you get a copy from either the mortgage company, the title agency, or the county directly. Save it just in case there is somehow a mixup or glitch in the county’s records and your property is mistaken for another, etc. Which brings up another good point: Buy Title Insurance. There will be an entirely separate blog post about title insurance due to the amount of things that we can discuss on that.
My bank’s title agency did in fact send me a copy of my deed but there was a significant lag between when it was filed with the county and when I received it. Therefore, if this company gets these letters out quick enough, the unsuspecting homeowner could purchase it, only to receive it from this company and the bank or title agency later. I’m sorry I don’t have the name of the company, etc. to report. I was so disgusted when I read the letter I ripped it in half and tossed it in the garbage. I will keep my eye out for others like it though and report them on this blog when I come across them.
As always, I welcome your comments and feedback…