There was an interesting story on the news this week about a homeowner who discovered that someone had moved into their vacant home claiming that the home had been abandoned. The new occupant said she rented the property from a property management company who in turn claimed that they had acquired the property by filing a "deed of adverse possession" with the county recorders office. Pretty good trick if you can pull it off. Last I checked there were a couple of elements of adverse possession that I suspect this property manager may have forgotten. As a refresher, adverse possession is a means of acquiring title where an occupant has been in actual, open, notorious, and continuous occupancy of a property under a claim of right for the required statutory period. In this case the period would be 7 years. The property manager is 6 years 12 months short of the requirement. Since a real estate license is required to manage property here in Washington it makes me wonder how some people actually pass the license test in the first place but that is another story.
The property owner, in my opinion, was quite gracious to the occupant allowing her and her family to move out over the weekend. I have heard that similar claims to vacant property been happening in other parts of the country but this is the first time I have heard about it here. If you have seen this in your market I would love to hear about it. Part of my initial reaction is that consumers could be protected against becoming entangled in this sort of mess by using trusted real estate professionals except that in this case the renter thought that is what they were doing.
This reminds me of a transaction I worked on a number of years ago where a man rented a home from one of my clients and then proceeded to offer it "for sale by owner" at a drastically reduced price drawing in several buyers and obtained cash earnest money deposits before fleeing town cash in hand. The would be buyers then contacted my client to get a refund. The problem is my client did not sell the home. Tough luck for the buyers. The moral of the story here is to know who you are dealing with. As a consumer remember that true authority withstands questioning. As a broker I always determine if in fact my client has the legal right to sell, or in this case, rent the home. As a consumer or selling/leasing agent, you can do the same. To do this simply review the tax records to see if the person claiming the right to sell or rent is the person in title. If the home is for sale ask for a copy of the preliminary title. Verify that your agent is a member in good standing with the Association of Realtors and check the status of their license. In many states you can do this in a few seconds online. Sorry, no "Dibbs" today.

Housing Rescue Plan Details
The Obama administration today spelled out details of a plan that would pay lenders to refinance or lower monthly payments on mortgages for homeowners who qualify. This program is designed to help up to 9 million homeowners stay in their homes. The plan is in response to the slump in home prices that began in 2007 and has led to massive foreclosures nationwide and is the root of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
MSNBC reports that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says. "It is imperative that we continue to move with speed to help make housing more affordable and help arrest the damaging spiral in our housing markets." Geithner provided many details of the plan which was originally announced on February 18. For borrowers who qualify, their interest rates could drop as low as 2% or their loan could be extended for as much as 40 years. The lender has the option to forebear principle for borrowers whose homes are worth less than their loan amounts. The program aims to reduce monthly payments to no more than 31% of the borrower's gross monthly income. In order to qualify for financial incentives of as much as $4500 to modify a loan, mortgage servicers will have to agree to follow strict guidelines established by the Treasury Department, according to MSNBC. Other details include guidelines that only allow borrowers to have their loans modified once and the program only applies to first lien loans made on January 1, 2009 or earlier. Some of the details are still in the process of being ironed out and treasury officials indicate that the program will only be available to responsible homeowners who did not buy more home than they can afford.
As final program details are announced, we will be posting them here. If you or someone you know is in need of loan modification, or is considering selling their property, especially in a short sale situation, please contact us, we can help.
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