Just bought a short sale property... how do I know I really bought it??

[David Hu]

Hi all,

I just completed the purchase of a short sale property about 1 month ago in Macomb Michigan. The whole process makes me nervous as to whether or not I actually own the place. I would like to hear from others if I have anything to worry about. Or if there's something I can do to feel at ease :). I do have both lender's and owner's title insurance.

A little background to set the story straight. The whole thing took 6 months to complete. The owner had two mortgages (HSBC and resurgent). About 1.5 months into the process, we got approval from 1st lender. The second bank was holding the deal hostage from month 1.5 through month 5, until finally issuing an approval letter. In the mean time about 2 months (this I didn't know until very close to closing), the house actually went to the Sheriff's sale!! So we filed a redemption certificate with the bank to redeem the house and thus be allowed to close. This whole sequence of things seem very bizarre and worrisome. Has anyone had this type of thing happen before?

BTW, To add to more confusion, I just found out that the title company also filed the deed recording the wrong property address (fortunately that's the only piece of paper that was incorrect among the documents)!!! They are correcting this right now.

Thanks for any info!!

David