I received a call before the Labor Day weekend from a woman, Cindy*, claiming to be the daughter of a man who was recently deceased. She said she got my name from Karen*. I don't know a Karen, so I figured Karen must have gotten my name and number from some of my marketing pieces. Cindy didn't know Karen's last name. I found that to be odd.
Anyway, Cindy was calling me from Southern California. She said her father, Greg* had died in July, and she found that he had 3 properties in Northern California. A single family in Vallejo, a duplex in Oakland and another property in Stockton. She was able to provide addresses for the ones in Vallejo and Oakland, but didn't have an address for the one in Stockton. She said the two that she had the addresses for were in default. She said she'd found that he'd been refinancing them every two years or so, taking money out. She said someone forged her name, and she wanted to sue the Notary that notarized the documents. She said she couldn't afford to pay the arrears or keep the properties. She didn't know if anyone was living in them. She said she spoke to the banks that were holding the mortgages and was told the properties couldn't be foreclosed upon if they were in probate. I advised her to contact a probate attorney ASAP.
She also said something about they were estranged, she was his only child and only heir, but he left his estate to Stanford Medical Center. Her name is on the Vallejo property as a joint tenant. I advised her to contact a probate attorney ASAP. I asked her did she have a copy of the death certificate. She said she'd just had him cremated and hadn't received the death certificate 'cause they don't issue them until the body's been disposed of. I'm not in the funeral business so I didn't know if that was how they do it or not. But, I found that to be odd.
I told her I'd send my assistant by the Vallejo property to see if it looked occupied. My assistant went by the property and said it looked like someone was in the process of moving or there were squatters. She saw some recent circular ads sticking out of the mailbox and a couple of pieces of mail addressed to Greg. One from the District Attorney and one from a HMO. The postmarks were only a few days old.
I called Cindy at the Southern California number she'd given me. She seemed surprised that someone was living in the Vallejo property. I told her I hadn't gone by the Oakland one yet, and I couldn't find any public record of anything in Stockton in Greg's name. I told her about the mail. She seemed surprised. I found that to be odd. I asked her had she met with an attorney yet. She said no. I found that to be odd. Later in the afternoon, my assistant went back by the property and struck up a conversation with an elderly next door neighbor. The neighbor said the couple living there had gotten into an altercation, (district attorney mail?) and the man had lost his job and fell behind on his payments (notice of default).
In the meantime, I'd ordered a Property Profile on the property from the title company that arrived later that afternoon. The property is held as Joint Tenants, however, it says that Greg and Cindy are husband and wife. I googled the Southern California number she gave me, and it is in the town that she told me it was in, but the phone is listed in someone else's name. I told my assistant it could be a friend or family member that she's staying with. Or --- we thought, Cindy, may be a fake name. At this point we don't know.
She's supposed to call me back after she speaks to an attorney.
*Names were changed to protect the innocent and the guilty.
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