Buyer Beware – Homeowner Beware – Deed Retrieval Service Mislead Many Homeowners
Last week I received an email from my client who recently purchased her Lakeland FL home inquiring about her Deed. She wrote the following:
Petra,
I have a question for you. I’m wondering about how long it takes to receive the deed for the house, and where it will come from. Last week I received something in the mail that seemed suspicious to me. It says it’s from the “State Record Retrieval Board” and is from California. It says to receive a copy of my own deed I need to send them $87. This just doesn’t seem normal to me, so I thought I’d ask you.
Thanks,
Sandy
I’m glad she asked. There are homeowners who may think that is letter was sent by a government agency and quite honestly I thought the same thing when I glanced at this letter first.
I responded to Sandy, that this seems very suspicious and it was not necessary to send them any money because she had already paid ($10.00) to Polk County FL for the recording of the deed when she closed on the house.
While this letter does state at the bottom – “This is not a bill. This is a solicitation” – it is truly misleading to many new homeowners and it is borderline scam.
Homeowners! If you happen to receive such a letter, do not pay $87.00. You can obtain a copy of the recorded deed by going to the Clerk of Courts office and pay as little as $10.00.
My client was kind enough to send me the letter and I have included this letter so you can see what it looks like.
Great site. A lot of useful information here. I’m sending it to some friends!
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!
We just received a letter here in Wisconsin shortly after we purchased a home. What a racket! Plus, the letter says if you don’t respond by the requested date (20 Oct; and we got the letter 19 Oct!) that “an additional fee of $35.00 will be required before processing.” !! I’m glad I took the time to do an on-line search and that it produced your information! Thank you!
Hi Mark, I’m glad that you searched before you paid them money for nothing that has already been done when you closed on your home. I appreciate your comment.