Not a Fairy Tale

Big foot, the abominable snow man and the Loch Ness monster. All myths and legends that I am sure you are familiar with. But have you heard the story of the original 40 year deed found by a home owner, a document that would help to establish property ownership.

As a real estate attorney, I have heard of such lore, but never believed it existed. I am here today to tell you that it is not a fairy tale.

Recently, we had a client come to us in extreme distress. She had been living in her home for over 40 years. While it had been established that she owned her house, there was a dispute as to whether an adjoining parcel, one she had been treating as her own all those years, belonged to her  The client was adamant that there had been a deed conveying that parcel to her many years ago. However, a search of the registry of deeds confirmed that was not the case. This posed a serious problem for the client. The record owners of the subject parcel had long since passed away and establishing ownership, if at all, would surely cost extensive time and money.

We discussed the potential courses of actions, and advised the client to search her files for any paper work regarding this matter.  By some miracle, the client found the original 40 year old deed sitting in her file cabinet. The deed did in fact convey the parcel to her but for reasons unknown, had never been recorded at the Registry of Deeds. To answer your question, yes the document can legally be recorded 40 years later, therefore establishing her ownership and solving her problem.

The moral of the story, if your missing that precious original document, check those cabinets, drawers and book cases. You never know, you just may have it and like all good fairy tales, have a happy ending.

"Fake John"

I call him “Fake John”; he’s the one emailing me at 6:00 am asking what time I will be in the office, it seems “Fake John” needs my help. In one second I hit reply to say what do you need, but I notice who I am replying to and that is definitely not “Real John’s” email address. I have heard of this scam before where you respond and “Fake person” asks you to go purchase a bunch of ITunes gift cards to give to clients after his meeting.  The meeting runs late. He then advises to just send over the numbers from the gift cards so he can just text them to each client. When you finally see your boss and ask him how the clients like the ITunes cards and you see that “what are you talking about” look on his face, it is easily matched with the “what do you mean, what am I talking about” look on my face. With all the emails we get in the course of the business day we can easily get caught up in one of these scams. I have a hard time figuring out how anyone makes money off this and who has time to come up with these scams.  Since we are all in this together, it is good to share these stories. Just pause for a second before hitting send.  “I have heard this before”

What’s a “Fisbo”?

It is actually an acronym-FSBO- that many involved in real estate pronounce as Fisbo.  It stands for “For Sale By Owner”. For whatever their reason, some property owners decide to sell their property without the assistance of a realtor.  Since the New Hampshire market is fairly hot right now, some owners are thinking they can sell their home on their own and save the customary 5% to 6% realtor commission on the sale. Given that the median home selling price in New Hampshire is about $250,000.00, the seller(s) can save roughly $12,500.00 to $15,000.00.

If you are selling without a realtor or interested in buying a FSBO, you can find your way though.  I know what you are thinking. It is overwhelming and I have no idea what I am doing!  However, people do it all the time. With the right title company, attorney and support, you can do it.  You are probably also thinking, lawyers are expensive!  If you are the seller, the legal bill will be less than a realtor’s commission by thousands of dollars.    If you are the buyer, you are going to pay the title company to close the transaction anyway. Since the seller is saving the commission, some of those charges may be negotiable. So don’t run from a FSBO.  If you want to sell your house or buy one without a realtor, it can be done and we can help!

So…another blog!

I assume because you are reading this, that you are interested in something about residential real estate in New Hampshire or Massachusetts.  Well, first, thanks for stopping by. Now, who are we?  Barrister’s Title & Closing Services is a residential title company owned, operated and actively managed by a team of lawyers specializing in real estate. We have many years of experience with all things real estate. We are deeply rooted in New Hampshire and enjoy what we do. Helping folks buy real estate, which most often is the home of the dreams, is a great thing to do every day. Beyond that, we have assembled the best team of people to help you get it done right.  Buying a home is one of the biggest investments of your life – don’t you deserve the best?

I started this business and now this blog to help.  Of course, it is a business and it needs to be profitable.  But we don’t succeed if we don’t provide the best customer service. I think we do that.  What makes us better is our team. Most residential title companies crank out hundreds of closings each month.  They have one or perhaps two overworked lawyers to tackle all the legal issues that routinely come up. If a serious title issue hits the fan, it gets in the way of the 50 other deals in the works.  No one has the time or the motivation to fix it right.  So this blog and our team are dedicated to providing you the best service, timely responses and the legal assistance you need to get it done.  No question is too silly. If you need an answer, we will get it. 

So this blog is devoted to helping you buy your dream home. Look to future posts for useful information, highlights of what’s new and our thoughts about the ever changing real estate market.

Thanks for tuning in.