I found a REO house that I am interested in. The only problem with the place is that there is no record with the county of there being any foreclosure on the property. The county still thinks the guy who paid 700K for it in 2006 still owns it.

When you go to the house it has a whole bunch of signs posted on it saying that BAC owns and maintains the house. It is clearly vacant and being that the guy paid way too much for it, it is reasonable to say that it was foreclosed on. But there is no record in the title.

Any one what is going on here? What kind of scam is the bank running here? I haven't seen this one before.

Hey Eagle,

Just check with the owner.

Maybe they haven't foreclosed because they want to show it as somehow performing.......if the guy sent them some jingle mail.

I'm not sure what the process is for filing foreclosure deeds is in your specific area, but I've been seeing in various areas around the country that have taken a beating and alot of REOs are hitting the market before the foreclosure deed makes it around to being recorded due to backlog and any other various legal issues are worked out.

Of course, make your offer subject to clear title, etc. Has the property been listed by an agent yet?

No the property hasn't been listed, it isn't even on Foreclosure websites. It just has notices on it.

The house can have notices posted on it for years before the process is finished.

Also if the property is in a large population area the assessors/recorders office could have a back log. If the trustees deed had a small error or the recording check was off it could take months to be mailed back to the servicer and then it may take months before it’s sent out again.

Ask a title company for a property profile.

Good Luck!!

Where do title companies get their information, that makes it superior to the county?

They take the county records and segregate them into three categories.

Documents with a legal descriptions are posted to the subdivision or apn. Assignments sub/t's and recons are posted to the document number of the deed of trust/mortgage.

Liens and judgments are posted to your name. The county recorders site should be up to date but changing the assessor's records can get a backlog.

When title companies record they get same day recording. Documents that are sent to the recorders office can wait weeks to be recorded. They are picky and many documents that are mailed in are sent back for correction.

If you get a property profile from a title company it should have the NOD and the Notice of Sale. You can call the automated phone number on the NOS and find out if the property went to sale.