I will try to help you, BUT PLEASE STOP YELLING AT ME

I am truly humbled by the number of people who read my various blogs and who then pick up the phone to ask me questions.  It is my strongest desire to try to be of assistance to anyone who calls me with a question.  If it is a question I cannot answer, I strive to find the right resource to get the answer and put the caller in touch with that resource.

I took a call yesterday from a woman who had read one of my blogs. Her specific inquiry to me was in relation to what recourse she may have if she could prove that her forclosure contained fraudulent signatures, documents, etc.  Her first question to me required an answer that only an attorney could give, and I immeditely advised her that I am not an attorney and as such I cannot and will not offer anything that could be construed as legal advise.

She went on to tell me her tale of woe; she and her husband lost their home in foreclosure, they fought tooth and nail to save it (in fact she had hired an attorney to represent her in the hearings), but ultimately their appeals were denied and the property was then sold to a third party.

Her ultimate complaint,  which I was able to get out of her after she began YELLING at me was that I did not understand. Her home had been stolen, she had been wronged, and she has just has not been able to get the real answers to her questions. We went round and round, regarding the perceived "theft" of her home, and I truly and honestly feel very badly for this lady, but from what I was able to see, the property was forclosed upon, the foreclosure was appealed, the court upheld the foreclosure and the home was sold to a third party.  Her belief was that the third party purchaser "stole" her home out from under her and she wondered whether of not a policy of title insurance would offer any assistance. 

I think that she, like many, do not understand the concept of what a title policy offers in the way of coverages and I attempted to try to explain to her, but she kept YELLING.  Because of the fact that she was upset and I was clearly not following her logic, I THINK(?) her question was something like "why can't the title insurer give the third party purchaser his money, give me back my home and we all move on? "  I admit, I was somewhat confused as to what she was utlimately trying to ask me, but the short answer is NO.  That's not how it would work.

Assuming that the third party purchaser had no involvement in the foreclosure action other than the fact that he was the purchaser after the property went through the foreclosure, HE is protected under his policy.  SHE is not. Had she been successful in her bid to have the foreclosure overturned and had the third party purchaser been harmed as a result of that court action, his interest in the real estate would be protected. But at no point would she just be able to waltz back in and take possession of the property, without further court intervention.

Trying to make her understand this was impossible, because, at the end of the discussion, she was just to upset to hear anything else I had to say.  Ultimately she thanked me for my time, again stated that I did not understand and hung up. At no point in this discussion was she rude to me, she was just very very upset.  I wish I had been able to give her the answer she wanted, but yelling at me does not change the facts.