Title issues and/or defects may be covered by your title insurance?

Question:

Hi Mark,

Hmm…ok, this is just bizarre. Perhaps you could suggest what additional documents I should order? I purchased a home in 2012, at 26911 Gregory Drive North. The home next door is 276657 Gregory Drive, with the below information. My parcel is A258465 and the Geocode is 03-1032-26-3-10-16673-0000

I believe I have found a problem with my title, in that, the previous owner of the house at 27887 Gregory Drive North, Lorena and Thomas Kryser (whom also owned my parcel) quit claim deeded the parcel, and held it in a trust, until 2013. The previous owner of my home, was Dr. Kelly and Amy Clarke. I did my own title search at the county and see that, there is legal proceedings regarding the estate of The Krysers. I believe it has to do with the aforementioned land held in trust. Also, my lien holder, Wells Fargo provided me with a bogus MIN number. My property is not registered to MERS. I will happily pay more, to get to the bottom of this. What products do you suggest? Honestly, its all VERY sketchy. My address pulls up 5 MIN numbers. Only one is active, and, I called the servicer, whom claims that, they do not service nor invested in my loan. I’m thinking that, I have opened a can of worms and loan fraud. Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Gemma M.   —–Original Message—–

Answer:

Gemma,

You were referred to me for follow-up on your inquiry.

I ran a courtesy location report to see if that would help us. I tried to run a report for the property history and valuation using the property code but I kept getting messages that I needed a suite or apartment number. This leads me to believe that the code 03-1032-26-3-6676-0000 identifies multiple properties. I also tried to run the report using the parcel number A25450 and the alternate parcel number 000A28450 but it said “none found.” I noticed a strange thing on the location report, however. If you look at page 2 of the courtesy Location Report attached to this email, it states that the property’s MSA is Waco, Texas. MSA is an acronym for Metropolitan Statistical Area which is a “geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area.” Obviously that doesn’t make much sense and it may or may not be relevant.

So we may have two or three different problems – one relating to the litigation pending with the previous owner’s estate and the other potentially being that the property was not split and/or indexed correctly. I suggest turning first to the title company that handled your purchase and closed the transaction. Any title issues and/or defects may be covered by your title insurance and hopefully they will also fix the issue with the way the property was indexed (or lead you in the right direction). If the title company cannot resolve the issues and/or cannot provide you with a chain of title at no charge or for less than what we charge, you may certainly order the Full Chain of Title Report on our site and then present the documents to a real estate attorney for evaluation. Clients often save legal fees when they are prepared with as much information as possible before they consult with an attorney. Please let us know if you need a referral to a real estate attorney in your area.

Thank you for your business and please let us know if you have additional questions or need more information.

Thank you,

Jeannie B.
Client Services
www.UsTitleRecords.com

Client response:

Hi Jeannie,

You are an answer to my prayers!!! Thank you, thank you!! At present, I would not prefer to engage the title company that closed on my property, because I believe they are very much aware that there is an issue. It’s a long and sorted issue, but, I believe I may be living in the twilight zone since moving from Chicago to here!! In a nutshell, I absolutely would prefer to run the full title search. I do not see any Realty Transfer certificates that have been filed with the county. In fact, the employee at the Dept. of Revenue actually hung up on me?! Which, leads me to believe that, I have opened up a can of worms…as in loan fraud! On the MERS system, my address and my neighbor’s address come up with the same MIN numbers? His address is 2939 Gregory Drive North. Steve and Jennifer Corning. So, before I engage a real estate attorney, what do you need from me, to run a full report? I look forward to your response.

Thank you,
Gemma

Client follow up response:

Hi Jeannie,
I wanted to check back in with you, to see if you were able to find out anything else on my property? I’d say that there is something definitely going on, because apparently there were 3 separate FEMA flood policies issued. 2 of which, are still open, and, oddly enough, not in my name? Anyway, I have been downtown Billings, and, visiting at the mapping department, as well as the Yellowstone County Clerk and Recorder. The mapping department told me that, outside of the state, the geocode does not equate to GPS longitude and latitude coordinates. Within the documents, I see the FFIEC Geocode is as follows:

MSA/MD Code: 13740
State Code: 30
County Code: 111
Tract Code: 0013.00

I look forward to hearing back from you.
Thank you,
Gemma

Answer:

Gemma,

Has your chain of title packet been delivered to you yet from the records department? If yes, let me know so that we can discuss the contents and try to sort through your questions.

Thank you,

Jeannie B.
Client Services
www.UsTitleRecords.com

Client response:

Good Morning,

The first that comes to mind, is this. Do you know if when a loan originator puts the address into the FFIEC’s Geocode Search (for the HMDA/CRA Reporting), does each and every address come out with a different code? For example, when I put into the Geocoder on the FFIEC website, say, my next door neighbor’s address, the same tract comes up? You had mentioned the indexing maybe being incorrect. When I inquired at the mapping department, they assured me, that the geocode assigned was only used in Montana? That, it did not have anything to do with longitude and latitude? Am I able to “call” into US Title to speak to you? I am on MST, and am uncertain as to where you are located?
Thank you,

Gemma

Answer:

Hi Gemma,

We are not authorized to serve clients via telephone because potential liability issues may arise in connection with clients misconstruing communications as legal advice. The company avoids such miscommunications by maintaining written threads.

I think at this point it may be a good idea to make one new list of all the issues/problems. I don’t have a copy of your chain of title documents so if you don’t mind forwarding that to me together with the list of questions, I will help you sort through the issues one by one.

Thank you,

Jeannie B.
Client Services
www.UsTitleRecords.com

Client response: 

Hi Jeannie,

Sorry it’s taken me awhile to get back to you. I’ve attached my full title report, and have several questions for you. I’m thinking that, I will now need to order a FULL title report of the next door neighbor’s, as well. The property that my house sits on was originally owned by the people whom lived next door, whom are now deceased. I am now certain that, my house did not have clear title when we purchased it, for a bevy of reasons. Some of which include documents that were not filed with the county. I’m now thinking that, this was intentional. More on that, later. Since I have ordered my full chain of title (attached), as well as the basic title reports for neighbors on both sides of me (it was originally one parcel), I was hoping that there may be a discount for ordering an additional full title on 255675 Gregory Drive North, Billings, MT. 59102? Here are the questions that come to mind, regarding MY full title report.

1.) How is the estimated sale price ascertained, by US Title? Since the sales price is not public record in Montana, I am curious how this information is obtained?

2.) Listed under Sale #4, is the Sale Price (although, something is VERY fishy here, as we paid $1.6 million) and Sale Price Type: E ? What does the “E” mean?

3.) Are you able to look into assigned MIN numbers from the MERS System? Wells Fargo allegedly assigned my loan to MERS, but, it does not appear anywhere on the note, closing documents, etc. The wrote me a letter, upon my questioning of the title, and claim the MIN number is : 1000113-7715914-1 However, when I check the MERS web site, this number does not come up? Nor by my name and S.S. #? Which leads me to also think this has to do with the estate and the Probate not closing, next door. The loan on that property was thru Wells Fargo. According to court documents, there is an issue with a “Wells Fargo title issue”. That loan, I am referring to, came up on MY title policy. It was not re conveyed until 2013. I purchased in 2012?

4.) On the History report, 7, 9 and 10 it says “Multi”, after the sale. What does that mean? I think this is where the title issues began.

5.) Under Transaction Details, #’s 3 and 4 (Sale), Why does it say BOTH sellers in # 3, but only one seller in # 4? Also, why is the Title Company different, from # 3 to # 4? This is part of the fishiness, too. We were told that, the title agent accidently misspelled the former owner’s last name, and it had to be re-recorded. I see now, that was a bogus excuse.

6.) If there were/are existing liens, would they show up on this report?

7.) I’d like to order the full report for 273257 as well. I believe that, we were duped,and that the entire parcel was sold, with existing liens, next door. I can see it was Quit Claim Deeded to Mr. Thomas Kryxxxer, and, subsequently was listed on that Deed, not to be sold as separate parcel (Lot 4/5b to be merged with lot 5A, forever).

8.) In the Location Report, you noted that, the location comes up as a property in Waco, TX. I do not see anything that could constitute a “condo” number? However, is it possible to tell me the address of that location, that comes up? I see from MERS, that a loan that is still active, which matches my loan date?! When I called, all they would tell me is that the property is outside of Waco! Does this mean that, you have access to the HMDA boarding data? If so, can you please tell me what numbers were used to input the loan, into the FFEIC’s website?

I look forward to your response.
Thank you,
Gemma M.

Client response:

Hello Jeannie,

I am checking back with you, regarding any additional information that you may have gleaned. I went ahead and did another couple of searches (2911 Gregory Drive and 2757 Gregory Drive). If that shows open lines of credit, mortgages, liens, etc. I will then move on to a FULL report on the house next door. The probate JUST closed on it, on April 30th. I am mostly concerned about ALL the MERS Assignments that come up under both of those addresses. Some open, some closed. Lastly, even though I could not find a “unit” number, that one could guess as being at the location in Waco, TX. that comes up? Other than, on my FULL title report I sent you, after my address, is C079? Can you please send me the address in Waco that came up, anyways?

Thank you,
Gemma

Client response:

Jeannie,

I have requested the geocode that was used to index my property. You must have been able to access this information, thru the Yellowstone County Accessor, which is maintained by the Department of Revenue for the State of Montana. This is not public record, as far as I can tell. I am headed over to the IRS this am. I have asked you for this information multiple times, and have yet to receive a response. At this time, I can tell you that I have become a victim of fraudulent transfer of property and would like the information asap. I understand that you are looking into my other questions. However, it is of the utmost importance that, I receive the utilized MSA coding that you have access to. I am kindly requesting, again, for the address that corresponds to my property, and, where it was indexed to. In the location report you sent, you had stated that, you could not provide an exact address, as you needed to provide a unit number. Please try unit # 7B. I am not concerned with my additional questions, that I posed to you, previously. I am needing the address, asap. I would appreciate a response, asap.
Thank you,

Gemma

Answer: 

Hi Gemma. I will get that to you shortly. I apologize for the delay but I’ve been struggling with the geocode issue.

Jeannie B.

Customer support team

Client response:

Hi Jeannie,

Thank you. I appreciate it. So, what exactly is the issue with the geocode? I know that it is alledgedly only used in Montana. However, there now seems to be an added layer to my concerns of fraud. I’m becoming increasingly frustrated with the DOR and title company. What do you know about something called a 1031 exchange? We did not participate in this, but, I’m starting to think we are victims of it.
Thanks,
Gemma

Answer: 

Gemma,

I thought we were trying to figure out why the geocode is saying Waco, Texas. 1031s are generally used to delay tax payments.

https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0110/10-things-to-know-about-1031-exchanges.aspx

Also attached are the reports for the Cornings and the Location Report for the address you requested. Thank you!
Thank you,

Jeannie B.
Client Services
www.UsTitleRecords.com