All Forum Posts by: Peter Walther

If you look at the Assessors map it will show you where the Assessor thinks the common line between your property and the neighbor's lies.  It's not definitive but it may give you some insight.  You may also be able to talk with one of the mappers in the Assessor's office and ask what they relied on to determine the location.

You're welcome Alan.  I've dealt with many boundary line disputes over the years, many the result of simple disagreements or confusion between surveyors.  Hopefully once you have some accurate information you can talk with the neighbor rationally about how to resolve the disagreement, if there is one.  Let me know if there is anything I can do to help.

I didn't know about the MD law Tom, can you give me the statute no. so I can take a look at it?  I'm glad you ask the why question, in my experience many agents and underwriters don't.  When I was underwriting that was always the first question I asked but I can't recall ever seeing a written underwriting requirement to ask.

Unfortunately in the claim I described the Grantor claimed she didn't have any of the money left so as it frequently does, it became a matter risk reward, good money after bad type analysis and the company ate the loss.  Easy to do in good times when premium is coming in.

In my experience, if the agent didn't make an egregious mistake and/or is a good i.e. profitable agent, they get a pass.

I live in central Florida, near University of Central Florida, now the second largest university in the country.  Apartment buildings have been built all over the place to accommodate the 70k plus students, most of whom have now returned home to attend class online since the campus has closed.

I just read an article this weekend about the pleas of students to their landlords for release from their leases.  They're joined by their parents, many of whom cosigned the lease and have now lost their jobs.  From what I read, their landlords, who are corporate owned because these are apartment complexes, responded much like the soup Nazi, no relief for you.  Your lease does not have release because you now attend school from home provision, so pay up.  I'm not sure how much of the current rent they'll collect but I'm pretty sure they'll have some difficulty releasing the apartments as the leases expire.  Wouldn't want to be their lender.

I think it's likely that behavior patterns may have permanently changed and many students, much like workers, will do their jobs as students remotely.  I also think people will have long term sensitivity to the clarion call of infection.  When one hears it, one runs for the hills it will be some time before this virus is brought to heel.  Unlike 2008 this isn't just about losing your job, it's about possibly losing your life.

Dale, I recommend you join a local real estate investors group where you can exchange ideas with other investors in your area.  If the deal you have makes sense you might even be able to find someone to partner with or a mentor to walk you through your first deal or two.  I just looked at Meetup for Tonawanda, NY and see about 19 different groups under real estate.  Good luck to you.

What state and county is the property in?  Have you asked a title company what they would require to insure title?

Hi Tom, let me tell you about a claim I worked on. Mom owned and lived in her house. She had three children, one of whom lived with her. As mom got older she required more and more assistance which the live in daughter provided. The other two children felt that since the sister lived in the house rent free, the assistance was in lieu of rent and they, the non resident children shouldn't have to assist with taking care of mom. Mom started to suffer from dementia and was moved to an assisted living facility where she passed away. Before she moved, the live in daughter had mom sign a power of attorney (POA) appointing the live in daughter attorney in fact (AIF). The live in daughter decided since she was the only child to take care of mom she should be the only one to benefit from the sale of the house so she listed it for sale, found a buyer and conveyed it as AIF using the POA and deposited the proceeds in a bank account held jointly by mom and the live in daughter. The company I worked for insured the buyer.

The other two children were upset to find the property had been sold out from under them and hired an attorney and brought suit to set the conveyance aside. After eighteen months of discovery in the litigation, I came to the conclusion the Plaintiff children would probably win. Since they did not want to sell their interest, because of their emotional attachment to the property, the company I worked for paid the Insured the policy amount since the fair market value of the Plaintiff children's 2/3 rds interest appeared to be greater than that amount. Otherwise I would have considered bringing a partition action. This is just one of many claims I worked on that arose out of reliance on a POA.

Until you have a survey you have no idea where the common lot line is, according to your surveyor.  Therefore you have no idea if your neighbor may be using your property.  You can't really tell him not to use your property if you don't know where your property line is, can you?

Do you know if your mother received a title policy when she purchased the property?  If so do you have a copy?  If not go back to the title agent that closed the transaction if they're still around and see if you can get a copy.

Does the neighbor have a survey?  If so ask to see a copy.

While you're doing that get your own survey done, make sure he/she knows there may be a dispute with the neighbor so extra attention can be paid to that common line.

If the neighbor disagrees with your surveyor's findings submit a claim in writing to your title underwriter, not the agent that issued the policy, but the underwriter whose policy was issued.  You should be able to get contact information from the agent or look at the policy and there should be contact in there under the Conditions and Stipulations section or look at the underwriters web site.  Let me know if you have any questions.

It happens more frequently than you might imagine, I've handled dozens of title insurance claims based on forged deeds, mortgages and satisfactions of mortgages.  I belong to an investor group and one of the members was telling me he flipped a house and was sued by the buyer's title company for unjust enrichment when it turned out the deed into him was forged.  I explained to him that's exactly what I would have done if I was handling that title claim.

Nobody can steal the title to your house.  If someone signs your name to a deed, the grantee did not get title.  Likewise, if someone forges your signature on a mortgage the lender did not get a lien on your house.  These clouds on your title however, may well be a pain to clear and you need to know how to go about doing it.