Lost Deeds and Buying from Big Banks

[Scott Robinson]

I'm wondering if anyone has ever come across a similar situation and what they may have done or if anyone knows how big banks handle deed transfers and who I should reach out to at Wells Fargo.  Here is the situation:

I found a distressed, vacant house, reach out the the heirs of the owner I found in Propstream and get the property under contract. Title commitment comes back a few days later and apparently the seller's mother deeded the property back to WF two decades ago so UW shows Wells Fargo as vested in title. I contact WF REO department to see what the story is, but they can't find any record of the property in their system and have to escalate the matter. WF ends up finding a lien release for my seller's mother from a decade ago, ten years after she deeded the property back to WF. Wells Fargo can't find any indication they still own the property and insist they released their interest in the property and don't own it even though the last deed from 2000 is a deed to WF. Every time I call WF now I get the same response, we don't own that property call the county find out who owns it...well, you do WF... no, we don't maybe the county lost the deed, call them and ask...

So, there is my short story.  Has anyone delt with something like this before?  Does anyone know who/what department handles deed signing/deed transfers for big banks?  The customer service people I get on the phone obviously aren't the people who will be able to solve this for me, so I need to get to the right group.

Thanks for any help you can give!

[Matthew Becker]

Quote from @Scott Robinson:

Quote from @Bill B.:

A quit claim from an authorized WF employee? 
Who’s been paying the property taxes? They would have a pretty good claim. (In many states the county assessor’s website will tell you this.)

 No one is paying the taxes.

 If not one is paying the taxes then go pay the taxes.  You can probably talk to the county and they have a process for this.  You can ask them to do a tax sale and If they do and Wells Fargo does not show up it goes to the highest bidder.  This could be a great opportunity for you.  It might take a bit of research.