Home Title Fraud?! What to Do?

Many clients have asked me about home or real estate title fraud. This is a criminal act where someone illegally transfers ownership of a property to themselves by forging documents or impersonating the rightful owner. Once transferred, the criminal will try to sell the property or take out loans against it. To be clear, this is hard to do as deed transfers have to be notarized and properly executed. But it can happen, particularly with second homes or investment property. What do we do?

Sign up for property alerts. Many counties offer a free service that notifies you of any property transfers associated with your name. In Tennessee, www.mylandalert.com, is one such service. This is effectively what the Title Monitoring services do for you. Do this yourself in any county in which you own property.

2. Be watchful of suspicious or missing mail and check your credit report regularly. This could tip you off to new credit lines taken out on your property. Also, if you stop receiving bills or statements or begin receiving new, unfamiliar correspondence, this could also be a sign that something is wrong.

3. Understand your title insurance. Normally, title insurance is purchased when buying a property to protect a lender, but owner’s policies are available as well. If you didn’t purchase an owner’s policy when closing on a property, one can be purchased afterwards, but it wouldn’t cover any problems prior to the purchase of the title insurance.

We work hard to pay off our homes and save for our futures. Take these simple steps to protect what you’ve worked so diligently to own.

Any opinions are those of Landon Vick and not necessarily those of RJFS or Raymond James. The foregoing information has been obtained from sources considered to be reliable, but we do not guarantee that it is accurate or complete; it is not a statement of all available data necessary for making an investment decision and it does not constitute a recommendation. Raymond James and its advisors do not offer tax or legal advice. You should discuss any tax or legal matters with the appropriate professional. Be sure to contact a qualified professional regarding your particular situation before making any investment or withdrawal decisions.