Foreclosure Shopping ? - Consider This

A recent ruling by a Massachusetts court decided that a homeowner who had purchased a foreclosed home did not have legal ownership of the property and consequently could not resell it. The reason for the ruling was that the bank who sold the property did not properly process the title when they foreclosed on it. Lenders and foreclosure mills who have engaged in robo-signing in order to push foreclosures through judicial systems now face another round of potential liability from this 2nd tier damage.

This decision by the Supreme Judicial Court now casts a cloud over legal ownership to any property where banks may have not properly conveyed clear and marketable title when they foreclosed.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal about the case, "the problem has gained attention nationwide because of the banks use of robo-signing and other dubious practices that may have broken chains of title in foreclosures." Any unwitting 3rd party who eventually purchased a foreclosed home with a tainted title could be at risk of proving that a clear chain of title exists before selling or refinancing the property. What's scary is that most people don't even know they have this problem until they decide to sell or refinance.

George Sinacori