No record of recorded mortgage with county

[Colin Williams]

I am in the process of selling one of my homes. Come to find out that there is no recording of the deed with the county when I refinanced it in 2011. What exactly does that mean? What steps should I take next? The closing happened today but the attorney is holding the funds until I figure this out. Is there any way I can benefit from this?

[Wayne Brooks]

Not quite….assuming your refi mtg/trust deed wasn’t recorded, that just means there is no “notice to the world” that there is a loan and mortgage. The mortgage/trust is just the Collateral Security for the Note. You signed a Note which is the actual indebtedness, so yes you owe the money. Just get the payoff, pay it, and move on. 

Note, depending on how your attorney is searching, it could be recorded and just being missed. He should be searching by name And by legal description. Occasionally, a recording misspells the borrower name, so if searching by name only, the recording is missed, though certainly still valid.