Posted by Maurice on December 04, 2004 at 13:53:10:
One more thing, you state that you have been unable to contact Mississipi Valley Title, and that all you get is an answering machine whenever you call their office. You also state that you have been informed that it appears that MVT has allegedly left a trail of unrecorded documents with the Recorder’s Office for alleged failure to pay the appropriate recording fees. Finally you state that Mississipi Valley Title is your brother’s title insurer. But how can your brother file a claim on his title policy (if the need ever came up) if the title insurer (MVT) has “disappeared”?
Your brother needs to contact your Mississipi State Department of Insurance. You need to find out what happended to MVT. The state Department of Insurance should have a functional contact information for MVT, or they may be able to tell you the story of what may have happened to MVT (perhaps they changed their name; or merged with another company, or were acquired by another company). Your Insurance Department should also be able to refer you to a trustee/referee/administrator administering MVT’s estate (assuming they are in trouble themselves).
Perhaps, you may also consider filing a complaint with the Mississipi Department of Insurance against MVT for failure to record the deed and related documents. I can imagine that MVT’s alleged failure to provide an insured (your brother) with a functional contact information must be a violation of your state’s insurance regulations, and perhaps federal laws.
My point is contact the Mississipi Department of Insurance. They should be of some help.
Please help with this “Disaster” - Posted by georhend
Posted by georhend on December 03, 2004 at 22:32:10:
My brother bought a primary resident in September 2002 from HUD. He closed at a HUD
approved title company (Missippi Valley Title) at that time. He called this week to inquire about
his real estate tax bill amount and was told that Housing Authority (HUD) ?the seller? was listed
as owner of record. That his name didn?t show as owner. They told him to contact title company
that he closed with (Missippi Valley Title). Also that title company will need to file original deed
with any other applicable documents (mortgage). When my brother tried to contact the title
company he said an answering service picked up and a recording said ?message box is full; cannot
accept any new messages? He then called Recorder of Deeds office and was told that they was
given several unrecorded documents pertaining to this title company (never paid recording
fees???) and that they turned the documents over to a HUD rep.
Then a lady from the Recorder of Deeds called him back and said they show no record of my
brother deed according to list of document records that was turned over to HUD rep. She gave
him a contact number at Guarantee Title. When he called Guarantee Title rep said fax HUD 1 and
he will check records they have from Missippi Valley Title. And if they cannot find his file then he
can file title claim if he purchased title insurance. My brother said according to HUD 1 title
insurance was through Missippi Valley title.
The other spin to this story is that my brother is filing bankruptcy and behind on his mortgage
payments. My brother said that the mortgage company is foreclosing on his house this is why he
was filing bankruptcy. He called mortgage company and gave them his bankruptcy lawyer phone
number. He want to keep his house and reaffirm the debt. But how can he list a house in
bankruptcy that isn?t in his name? However the mortgage loan appear on his credit report… He
want to re-affirm his house in the bankruptcy but don?t know how to proceed with bankruptcy.
The Recorder of Deed office told him that if the Deed isn?t recorded in his name then the
mortgage that accompany the deed has not been recorded as well. Therefore, how can he
continue with bankruptcy when faced with unrecorded deed and mortgage? Please help any and
all advice is appreciated. Many thanks in advance.
Unfotunately, there is some real shoddy work being done by some title companies today. I recently had a situation like this, where I was the seller of a property and the buyer called me two years later stating that the house was still in my name. I checked and sure enough it was… What had occured was that the title company had not recorded the deed, they had attempted to but due to a clerical error, the Recorder wouldn’t accept it. So instead of coming back to me, the Seller for a correction, they did nothing… and hence the poor guy was in limbo. Much like your situation the title co had gone under and there was no one to rectify this mess.
Fortunately for the buyer, the seller in this case being a RE investor understood the error that occured, and I simply prepared a new Deed, executed it and recorded it for the Buyer… That took care of that problem…
Unfortunately for your brother this case won’t be that simple. You simply have too many things going on at once… Recording error, Mtg default, Bankruptcy… jeesh, it is bad enough to have one problem to solve, but to have compounded problems to solve at once, that makes it tougher. The long and the shor of this is that to correct this screw up it may cost $$$. It sounds like your brother is a little short in that debt at the moment…
He may check with someone from Legal Aid, to see if he could get some free representation, otherwise the legal costs could be in the Thousands here, just to get this straightened out.
Your best hope is that the title co that is attempting to assist can fix ths for your brother, and circumvent lots of heartache here… If not, there could be more hectic events to come.
Re: Please help with this “Disaster” - Posted by Maurice
Posted by Maurice on December 03, 2004 at 23:07:51:
Recording a deed is not required to pass title to real estate. If a deed was ever signed, notarized, and delivered to your brother, then he has title to the house despite that the deed was not actually recorded. Recordation of deed is merely legal notice to the public that an interest in the property has been transferred. Recordation does not affect the issue of ownership. So your brother may be the rightful owner of the house, and the house may well “be in his name” as we speak, so long as a deed was signed, notarized, and delivered to him at closing. I may be wrong, but if he has a copy of the deed that was given to him at closing (which he should have), then he can record the deed himself. The records will show that the date of transfer was in 2002, but that date of recording was in 2004 (or whenever he finally records it).
As far as the mortgage is concerened, it is far in the interest of the mortgage holder (bank) to see that the mortgage is recorded. Your brother does not have much to lose if the bank fails to ensure that the mortgaage they hold is recorded. But your brother could contact the bank’s closing attorney, or the bank, and alert them as to the problem. I am sure that they will be very eager to have the mortgage recorded. I am also certain that they have a copy of the mortgage (signed by your brother) in their files. And since you say that the mortgage company has already started a foreclosure action agaainst your brother, I bet that if you look in the court files for the foreclosure action, you will find a copy of the mortgage in the files. Finally your brother ought to have a copy of this mortgage that he signed in his own personal files.
I may be wrong, but I think your brother should be able to continue with his bankruptcy petition despite the non-recording of the deed and mortgage. The lack of recordation of these documents does not extinguish the rights and obligations they created. In other words, it is still your brother’s house if he has a deed that says it is (although deed is not recorded). And the mortgage is still your brother’s liability so long as he is the one who granted the mortgage with the house as collateral, and there is a mortgage with his signature on it. Go to a good bankruptcy attorney. I believe that the bankruptcy petitoon can go on. The deed and mortgage may be recorded eventually with or without the title company.
By the way I do not believe your brother can make any claim on his title insurance policy. Why? Because nothing is wrong with his title (deed) to the house. At least there is no adverse claim to title, yet, and there may never be.
Re: Please help with this “Disaster” - Posted by georhend
Posted by georhend on December 04, 2004 at 12:39:03:
thank you very much, I will pass this information to my brother. I’m sure he will sleep better tonight knowing that it’s not that bad. And he can proceed with bankruptcy.