by gerald » Fri Jan 14, 2011 12:03 am
There is another facet to the foreclosure problem that I think is over looked. I have been active in a various sections of the real estate business in the Chicago area for over 35 years, I do not claim to be an expert nor an attorney. I guess I speak as an old fuddy duddy. This foreclosure problem has been created/compounded by the roll of attorneys and title companies in their drive to maximize their profits, yes times have changed and we have become more "modern." However, I would like to illustrate this problem using my recent experience involving a major national lender and a major national title company. I paid off a first mortgage on a property, the mortgage was current and had no other encumbrances. After the pay off it took over eleven months to obtain all the necessary documents from the lender and the title company to show clear title, with of course the resultant fees etc. we even contemplated suing for said documents since all documents should have been delivered in at most a few weeks. For a contrast, about 30 years ago I had a closing on a property that was held in a recorder of deeds office, (at that time a large portion of properties were recorded in the recorders office and ALL real estate encumbrances on said properties HAD to be recorded in the recorders office, if encumbrances were NOT recorded in the office they did not exist). It was also very easy to learn who "owned" the property and who held the mortgage. The verification of clean title and transfer of title took five minutes. Needless to say attorneys and trust companies did not like the way this worked. Eventually, after they applied adequate pressure, this function of the recorders office ceased. There are hidden costs to complexity that can be greater then one can imagine. I will venture to say, the entire mortgage foreclosure mess would not exist, if this old style handling of titles was used.
There is another facet to the foreclosure problem that I think is over looked. I have been active in a various sections of the real estate business in the Chicago area for over 35 years, I do not claim to be an expert nor an attorney. I guess I speak as an old fuddy duddy. This foreclosure problem has been created/compounded by the roll of attorneys and title companies in their drive to maximize their profits, yes times have changed and we have become more "modern." However, I would like to illustrate this problem using my recent experience involving a major national lender and a major national title company. I paid off a first mortgage on a property, the mortgage was current and had no other encumbrances. After the pay off it took over eleven months to obtain all the necessary documents from the lender and the title company to show clear title, with of course the resultant fees etc. we even contemplated suing for said documents since all documents should have been delivered in at most a few weeks. For a contrast, about 30 years ago I had a closing on a property that was held in a recorder of deeds office, (at that time a large portion of properties were recorded in the recorders office and ALL real estate encumbrances on said properties HAD to be recorded in the recorders office, if encumbrances were NOT recorded in the office they did not exist). It was also very easy to learn who "owned" the property and who held the mortgage. The verification of clean title and transfer of title took five minutes. Needless to say attorneys and trust companies did not like the way this worked. Eventually, after they applied adequate pressure, this function of the recorders office ceased. There are hidden costs to complexity that can be greater then one can imagine. I will venture to say, the entire mortgage foreclosure mess would not exist, if this old style handling of titles was used.