GREENSBORO, N.C. — "How is this possible?" That is a good question to ask. Especially when you've been paying a mortgage on your home for years and just found out that someone bought your house, and put their name on the deed.
A man in Oklahoma City, OK, came home one day to find an eviction notice on his door. Documents showed that someone had filed a Quit Claim Deed, and that mystery person was now the sole owner, buying the home for $10 plus a filing fee.
The paperwork shows the status of the notary who signed off on it had his license revoked, and the signatures don't match, yet the paperwork was filed anyway at the county office.
"At the end of the day, if you've got a clever enough criminal, they're probably gonna get away with it for a while," said Jason Nelson, Chief of Staff, Oklahoma County Clerk's Office.
Now, the real homeowner has to go to court to prove the new homeowner isn't for real. His advice? Check your property deed now.
Unfortunately, this is happening all over the country. The county systems allow for loopholes like this to happen. Technology is making it easier than it should. But there is also a way technology can help.
Homeowners should sign up for a free Property Fraud Alert. In NC, you can sign up with the Register of Deeds at your county office. What it does is it will send you an email alert if there is any real estate transaction with your name on it.
"Put as many name iterations as you can into a system that will generate an email that goes directly to them that lets them know if any real estate transaction in our office takes place with any of those name variations," said Jeff Thigpen, Guilford County Register of Deeds.
Until the loophole gets fixed, the alert will help you stop a sale as quickly as possible, and at least allow you to know what is happening right then and there, instead of finding out months later.