08.04.06
Value of a Title Abstractor
I had an experience yesterday that got me to think’n. There was a woman in the courthouse yesterday who was not employed in a legal capacity. She was “searching” a property she wanted to buy because she didn’t want to pay an attorney. When she was done, she thought she had copies of the deeds in the chain, all of which had either a $5 or $10 consideration on it. She remarked to her companion (who was “helping” her) that that was “cheap”. Then because she had checked each person’s name in the Grantor’s book, she remarked that she ought to be able to get this property for a song because they paid so little for it and they didn’t owe any money on it. Well, I’d had enough (a state of mind must of you are now familiar with). I began to disabuse her of her “findings”. I told her that 1) she absolutely needed an attorney because a certain person was in her chain and he had been indicated for fraud for recording deeds on property he didn’t own, 2) that the Grantor’s book tells her nothing about mortgage, tax liens, judgements, mechanic’s lien, mental health liens, etc, etc, etc (ad nausem) and 3) I wouldn’t buy an acre of SWAMP land without a title search by a qualified professional, giving her the example in a neighboring county of a man who has successfully sold his property on three separate occasions on cash deals, property that is currently encumbered by over 2 million in federal tax liens (as you might expect, it’s in litigation).
She looked like a deer in the headlights—she had already bought the neighboring land from the same person who had the property for sale she was now searching. I asked her what that properties tax map number was, she told me. I pulled up the grantor’s name in the mortgage index—yes, you guessed it–there was a mortgage that was held on BOTH properties (the one she had already paid cash for and the one she was “searching”). She left with an attorney’s name.
What does my experience have to do with online records? Well, what is going to happen when people like this woman discover they can “search” all this online from home? If another abstractor and I had not been in the courthouse yesterday, this woman would be worse off than she already is. We certainly won’t be in her HOME!
This especially concerns me when you start thinking about the sheer number of IDIOTS who have bought a kit for $9.95 that’s going to make them rich with real estate flipping (which is the EXACT situation that brought about the situation in the neighboring county). Also, I’ve talked to people in the courthouse who have come in to get a deed on a property that is being sold at auction by the county. I’ve had some experienced people who know better, but most of these idiots, while they KNOW that buying from a private individual without a search is DUMB and they’d “never do THAT”, they think that if the COUNTY gives them a deed, its title is quiet!
I’m just wondering what everyone’s thoughts are on this issue OUTSIDE of its direct correlation to our industry.
Wendi See , SC www.lowcountrytitleexam.com