dothanhomesearch.com

By: Charles Woodall
Managing Broker

http://www.dothanhomesearch.com

Last week at a closing, one of our sellers got a not-so-pleasant surprise. Here is their story. The names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Mr. Seller took out a $10,000 home improvement loan with a national department store back in the early 80’s. Not realizing it at the time, said store placed a second mortgage on this home as collateral. Mr. Seller made his improvements, repaid the loan early, and continued to enjoy his home.

Fast forward 25 or so years, and the seller discovers, at the closing table mind you, that said national department store never recorded a satisfaction of the loan. In other words, they never publicly recorded that the loan had been paid in full. When properly recorded, a subsequent search of the title of a property, such as when the home is sold, will reveal the recorded satisfaction. But what happens in this case? Now obviously the loan was paid off, or Mr. Seller would have long ago ran into trouble with the store, right? Regardless, the title company is now obligated to hold $15,000 of this seller’s money until such time as the seller can prove he paid off the loan.

Think about that for a minute. If you were in this situation, how easy would it be to prove? Do you keep your home financial records for 25 years? Do you check your records at the county courthouse regularly to make sure everything is as it should be? Maybe you should, because you just never know when you will run into a problem.

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