Unknown Second Mortgage
A nice old lady wants me to take over her payments on her first mortgage and wants $2000 cash when she deeds me the house. The house has a $46,000 mortgage on it and when I checked the comps, this 2 bedroom house was going for around $80,000 in good condition. It needs about $10,000 in work. I ran a title search and found a second mortgage against the property for $12,000. There was no satisfaction at the court house, and the owner claims she knows nothing about it.
She is alittle off, so I don't know if I believe her. But I did notice that the second mortgage was recorded the same exact day the first was recorded. That seemed alittle wierd to me. The second mortgage holder is an indivdual, not a mortgage company. How do I contact this indivdual to see if this second mortgage is valid?
If present owner has just recently bought the RE, you can easily do a litle research with the title co. or realtor who handled that previous sale, and their records will show the seller, his/her address, the total sales price, whether there was a seller carry-back 2d, etc....
But if the present owner has lived there for a lot of years and doesn't know the realtor, or the title co., etc., then you'll have to do a little digging to try to find the details of the 2d, address of its owner, etc.
On a CA prop I'm working on, there was a totally fraudulent 2d recorded, and it's taken a Quiet Title Action to get rid of it.
You could have a similary fraudulent 2d and if so, a QT action will maybe be required to wipe it off slate.
Is the individual on the title also the person who sold this lady the house? It could be a private 2nd mtg. If your seller claims no knowledge, see if you can contact the other lien holder directly.