Protect Your Real Property
How do I protect my real property?
We have all heard the horror stories – a person (let us call him “Scoundrel”) forges the signature on a deed and transfers the property to Scoundrel. Scoundrel then uses the stolen title to sell the property or take out a loan or mortgage without your knowledge. Complex legal proceedings are required to clear the title, and it can ruin your credit. It could take years to resolve the problem.
So how do you prevent this type of theft?
What are the warning signs?
· Unexplained documents related to your property such as notices of new mortgages or changes in property ownership
· Alerts from credit monitoring services
· Missing tax assessments from the Maricopa County Assessor’s Office
· Unexplained accounts on your credit report or a change in credit score
What can you do? You have the option of acquiring title fraud insurance from an insurance company. You may ask your title insurance company whether it covers title fraud or acquire a policy from a separate company, such as Home Title Lock.
Maricopa County has launched a no-cost self-monitoring program, Maricopa Title Alert (MTA), to combat title fraud. This program allows homeowners (either individuals or businesses) to input their email address and name and MTA will alert the subscriber by email and/or text when a document is recorded in that homeowner’s name at the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office. Upon receiving the notification, the homeowner may alert the authorities and stop any further fraudulent activity.
You can sign up for the MTA by visiting the following URL:
Comments