Tag: Homeowner Protection
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Struggling With Your Mortgage Payments in a Harsh Economy? Not All Promises of Help Are Legit.
There are deep problems in the U.S. housing economy—including for deed holders. And today, for many households coping with inflation, oil price surges may be the last straw. This financial pressure will likely create many more targets for the grotesque business of promising mortgage relief in order to snatch equity from homes. You might have…
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Deed Theft News: Brooklyn Case Shows Why Facts Matter
It’s called deed theft, title fraud, house stealing, or title piracy. At its simplest, it involves the recording of a deed or other property document that appears to transfer ownership without the true owner’s permission. In some cases, criminals forge signatures, impersonate owners, or use false identities to record documents that appear valid on their…
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NYC Opens First Office to Fight Deed Theft
It is the city’s first office dedicated to deed theft prevention. Mayor Zohran Mamdani has just formed the Mayor’s Office of Deed Theft Prevention for New York City. What’s deed theft? It’s the taking of a home by shady paperwork. The culprits falsify deeds and notarizations. Then they record the falsified documents. Additional forms of…
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The Best Laws Against Deed Theft: How Does Your State Rank?
For those concerned about where deed theft is taken most seriously under the laws, the data security firm EquityProtect has the facts. The company’s new Property Protection Scorecard sums up the current status of each of the 50 states and Washington, DC. The equityprotect.com/scorecard webpage ranks states using five tiers. Tier 1 shows the…
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Title Thieves Are Robbing the Dickens Out of Homeowners
Richard Helbig is a 75-year-old retired home renovator. Now, Helbig is back to work—as a dishwasher. What happened? He lived in his four-bedroom home in North Carolina for 16 years. He redid the kitchen and bathrooms. He paid off the home loan and accumulated $200K+ in equity. But a couple of title pirates took it…
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New Deed Fraud Law Advances in Arizona
Arizona is fed up with deed fraud. Con artists who target deeds go for “a person’s home, their savings, and the work of a lifetime,” says Representative Selina Bliss. Now, a bill in Arizona’s legislature is poised to better protect deed holders from manipulators who take homes out from under people. House Bill 2080 passed—unanimously—out…
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How Arizona Is Fighting Back Against Deed Fraud
A Rural County’s Innovation Becomes a Statewide Model for Property Protection Deed fraud complaints to Arizona’s Attorney General have surged in recent years, with at least 65 cases reported in just a 20-month period.¹ But from Mohave County in Arizona’s northwest corner, an innovative program is gaining traction as a model for the entire state—and…
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Stolen Home Recorded as Sold for $10. How Will Texas Respond?
A family home was stolen in a fraudulent sale, for just $10, with a forged deed. Now, an heir is fighting in court to recover the property. Shannon P., the heir who’s fighting, views her lawsuit as a public service announcement as well as a struggle to recover generational wealth. “If you’re not checking on…
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In Case You Missed It: Massachusetts “Affordable Homes Act” Doubled Homestead Exemption to $1 Million
As you may know, most states let a vested deed holder designate a percentage of the primary residence’s value as a homestead. Homestead status can stop a home’s forced sale due to unpaid debt. This year, under its Affordable Homes Act, Massachusetts increased its homestead protection from $500,000 to $1,000,000. All the better, this higher…
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A First in the Nation: Cuyahoga County to Install Two-Factor Authentication for Recorded Documents
Could the party be over for deed thieves in Cuyahoga County, Ohio? Home to the beautiful city of Cleveland, it will soon be the first U.S. county to offer two-factor authentication for the recording of legal documents. This is a milestone in the effort to stop fraudulent deed transfers. To explain the forthcoming change, we…
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AG James Nails First Criminal Conviction Under NY Home Equity Theft Protection Act
Recently, a New York real estate agent pleaded guilty in a deed theft case. Yes, a real estate agent. Oscar Dais used to be a real estate agent in Rockland County, New York. But no more. Oscar Dais admitted to a property theft that involved falsely signing a deed to his own company, while pretending…
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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…
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Opinion: Who Really Wins? New York’s Deed Fraud Bill Protects Title Insurers, Not Homeowners
New York lawmakers have introduced Senate Bill 7732 as a response to the growing crisis of deed fraud — a real and rising threat to property owners across the country. On the surface, the bill looks like reform. But a closer look reveals what it really is: a convenient liability shield for title insurers.
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Borrowing Against Your Title to Ward Off Deed Theft: A Smart Idea?
Some deed holders deliberately get a lien recorded on their properties to make it harder for anyone to commit deed theft and take their homes. Is there anything to this? First, it’s music to our ears when homeowners ask how to keep their deeds safe and sound. Borrowing against home equity to get a voluntary…
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Behind Their Backs: The Pain of Finding Out About Malicious Deed Transfers
From time to time, we talk about deed theft here. But what actually happens, from the deed holder’s point of view? Here’s what it’s like — and how to protect your deed.
