Are you afraid of being scammed out of your home? An obscure issue in the real estate world has lots of homeowners terrified — but it might be just a bunch of hot air to make a buck on fear.

For just under $15 per month, in perpetuity, the legality of your homeownership can be protected from identity thieves.

Really?

Here in California, and most likely elsewhere, in order for a vestee to convey a property title to another person or corporation, a notary has to confirm the vestee's identity. A signature alone is no longer sufficient. After the burst credit bubble of 2008, a thumb print also has to be provided. It's pretty hard to forge a thumb print.

The scammers claim that the title thief can then re-mortgage the property, take the money, and stick you with the bill. Again, really? In order for an institutional lender, such as a bank or credit union, to fund the loan, the borrower's title has to be insured. The seniority of the new lien has to satisfy the lender's requirements when compared to all of the other liens that may be on the property. The borrower's identity has to be confirmed as well as the borrower's ownership of the title.

How do I know all this? For the last 26 years, I've been a real estate agent. I've had to renew my license six times and have concluded dozens of transactions. And if you don't believe me, Real Clear Investigations published an exposé on this subject a year ago:

How can the scammers continue to get away with this? For one thing, the threat of being dispossessed can be quite a motivator. Also, the purveyors of this fraud have enlisted a bevy of popular and credible media personalities as endorsers — including some well accomplished attorneys.

How could a lawyer get sucked into this? It turns out that most lawyers often specialize in a specific field — and title insurance is particularly unique and exotic when compared to divorce, criminal defense, or medical malpractice.

Two words: Title Insurance - one time purchase.

I do not know the answer, but in general when you purchase a home and the title is finalized by a title company do you not have “insurance”?

I hear these ads often but I had never heard of such a theft.

Curious if anyone has a more definitive answer?

Scammers cannot take your home or your equity.

The ones who will loose out is the bank or creditor making the equity loan to the scammer as it will fall back to them.

I noticed Newt has changed his language in the Title theft commercial

My real estate lawyer friend laughs at these commercials.

In both Wisconsin and Ohio the title company provided a document called Title Insurance. In Ohio it was required. In Wisconsin it was advised but not mandatory. The purpose is that you are not out if something goes wrong with the title of the house you procured.

Now reading more on this is sounds like blatant forgery and fraud and should be a simple matter of proving that it isn’t your signature.

That has always been the rub. Let’s say someone forges the title and claims ownership..... seems like an easy investigation to show the claim is fraudulent and it would be an easy arrest. You would have realtors, a title company, and claim of ownership (I purchased the home and moved in).

I don’t see how paying a company 10 dollars a month is worth it to monitor my title or that it is necessary?

“Now reading more on this is sounds like blatant forgery and fraud and should be a simple matter of proving that it isn’t your signature.”

I own a office building that is paid in full. Last year I took out a $120k business equity loan to finance major rehab/new roof, doors/windows etc.

The bank knows me. The guy giving me the loan has known me for 25 years but I had to supply two forms of ID, notarized forms in their presence, Last 5 years of tax forms, they even did a credit check, wanted to know all my pension plan account numbers etc etc.

....and these folks have known me for 25 years!!!

"I do not know the answer, but in general when you purchase a home and the title is finalized by a title company do you not have 'insurance'?"

My two cents' worth on why I wouldn't bother. Assuming you don't buy the house outright with cash you've bought it with a mortgage. This means the bank is part owner for many years. Even if your state doesn't require title insurance your bank does. And it's for reasons like this. If someone tries to claim ownership of your property, your bank's lawyers will come to bat for you (for the bank) because the bank has a vested interest in keeping someone else from claiming your property. The bank wants their money back for the purchase of the home, and they know that you're the one that'll pay it. But only if you continue to live there.

In the many years it takes to pay off your mortgage (be it a 15 year mortgage or 30 year mortgage) if no one tries to claim your property until after the mortgage is paid off then that person would have a steep uphill battle explaining why they didn't claim it for 30 years. That'd be hard to win in court. And if someone tried to sue you for your property, claiming they're the true owner, you can counter-sue and do it without an attorney. In other words, you can legally make it costly to them without it costing you (sans a $50 or so motion filing fee). The more you interact with their attorney while you're pro se (legally representing yourself), the more it costs your adversary and not you. Which means the quicker they'll drop their case. (At least that's been my experience in a similar manner, completely unrelated to someone claiming they owned my property.)

Bill o’really here! Home Title Lock. I always hated bill o’reilly. Also Hannity. But alsk some of my other really favorite talk show hosts read the script as an advertisement. I think the advertisers like the authoritative voice to deliver their message. I don’t believe it for a minute. I really don’t respect the people who sell this and it tarnishes the radio personalities that perpetuate it. It makes daytime conservative talk radio look bad.

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