Leaving Your Home for a While? An Arizona Trucker Has a Cautionary Tale

“This is home. It will always be home,” D’Andrea Turner told ABC’s Channel 15. “I raised my babies here.”

D’Andrea’s ex, Keith Turner, is a trucker who went out on the road for long stretches at a time. This left the home unattended, as the pair had separated. This year, the two parents learned their home had been sold without their knowledge. It was deed theft.

Violated, Impersonated, and Robbed of Their Deed

The Phoenix Police Department investigated. A search turned up a couple of characters who had broken in, and started living in the home which the trucker and his ex still (presumably) owned.

The alleged criminals gathered personal documents from inside the home. They used these documents to create impersonations of the rightful deed holders.

By pretending to be the legitimate co-owners, this unwelcome pair of house-sitters managed to transfer the title right out from under them.

One of the legitimate co-owners, D’Andrea, told a news reporter it was like being in The Twilight Zone. D’Andrea said she saw mail addressed to people she’d never met in the mailbox.

Keith and D’Andrea had lost their deed. People pretending to be them signed it over to a new owner. When D’Andrea actually laid eyes on the new deed, she told an ABC News reporter: “That is not my name, and that’s not my signature.”

Through the Cracks? News Investigators Check Up on Title Company

Somehow, the forgery managed to pass, undetected, through a number of document and investment professionals. The criminals sold the trucker’s home for $200K+ to investors. These buyers actually toured the home — twice, in fact — with the phony owner/sellers. And the home was actually listed on the market. Ownership was transferred through a warranty deed. A notary signed off on the deed. Maricopa County accepted it into the public records.

So… How did the title company, which issues a title report and vouches for the title’s marketability, let any of this happen?

The title company told the local ABC outlet that this instance of fraud fell through their cracks. And yet the title company’s rep said their anti-fraud personnel are confronting “a dozen of these cases a week.”

In cases of missed fraud attempts, those who lose their purchase money, their loan collateral, and/or their deeds will go after the title companies to be made whole.

Fraud is one reason home buyers might also purchase title insurance to go with the homes they buy. If you are buying title insurance, check with the company on whether an extended policy is needed for fraud that may have occurred pre- or post-purchase.

Covering Deed Theft Keeps Arizona News Teams Busy

In other Arizona locations, ABC Channel 15 has done similar deed theft investigations. Arizona’s Family Investigates, part of the CBS corporation, has also reported on deed theft incidents.

One involved a home in Scottsdale. The late owner supposedly signed the deed away — after his date of death. The home was transferred, by an imposter, from probate to a major real estate company.

The home was staged and listed, and agents were told to empty it of the late owner’s items.

Upon learning fraud was in play, the real estate company cancelled the sale and transferred the deed back to the dead homeowner’s heirs.

Lucky for them, the deed was falsely signed and notarized in California, where notary laws are stricter than in Arizona. The required fingerprint records in California enabled law enforcement to trace the fraud. Charges were brought.

Definitions: A title represents a legal right to keep and transfer your home. Transfers of that right are evidenced by the deed. Deeds are recorded with the county where the home exists, as public notice of who holds the title to a home.

Home Alone? Remote Deed Holders Should Keep Tabs on Their Real Estate

If you are moving, working away from home, separated from a co-owner, or remote for any reason, don’t leave account statements or tax forms or personally identifying information in the home. And don’t let mail come to an unlocked mailbox.

Hiring a house-sitter can make sense. A house sitter can discourage squatting, deed tampering, or identity theft. Safety precautions may include:  

• Gardening, landscaping, removing snow, checking for leaks, and generally keeping the home looking lived-in.

• Checking for mail, leaflets, and litter.

• Checking for problem ducts, pipes, or fire hazards.

• Looking out for strange activities around the home.

Generally, someone who regularly checks on your remote home is keeping your deed safe.

There Are Easy Ways for All of Us to Watch Our Deeds

Any deed holder can create an alert on the web for a home or business address. And it’s a great habit to check the address frequently on a major real estate site like Redfin or Zillow. If someone improperly lists an address on the market, checking the internet is one good way to find out.

Many county websites offer free, automatic messages to alert residents of recordings placed on our deeds. We can go to the county’s website (where available) and sign up today.

These methods of keeping tabs on a deed make it possible to call for investigators quickly — before a stolen deed is laundered through a transfer to an innocent purchaser.

In fact, setting up alerts could have helped the Arizona trucker. All Arizona counties do offer online title alerts today.

What If the Deed Has Already Been Stolen?

If someone appears to have tampered with your home’s title, don’t delay. Federal investigators say it’s much easier to derail a fraudulent sale if the initial transfer is traced in the first few days.

Local law enforcement should be notified as well as federal fraud investigators. The federal investigators work on interstate and international aspects of real estate crime. And your state attorney general’s office also has an enforcement role to play in tracking down impersonators.  

Contact any title company that might have been involved in the improper deed transfer, as well as the title company that handled your original transaction. It’s possible that you bought an owner’s title insurance policy (not the same as homeowner’s insurance) from a title company which can assist you in recovering your deed.