Today, I went on the Gwinnett Courts website and saw a warning to homeowners that alerts them to title transactions. It's at gwinnettcourts.com . Kudos to the clerk and to Georgia for making the homeowner who goes to the site aware of the problem.
However, what percentage of homeowner visit the site in Gwinnett?
Even if they did a flyer drop to reach the elderly, would that be enough?
Is this measure enough to protect a vast number of victims?
Some may say the laws need to catch up with the thieves. The entire transaction needs to be slowed down. True owners should be able to go into court within 12 months to challenge the transfer, lien, and fraud perpetrated by scammers. Between innocent homeowners and lending institutions, the innocent homeowner should be protected.
There are other protections that owners should be allowed that are similar to those are afforded credit card holders whose credit cards are stolen and used. There is already a model to this delayed full title transfer. In tax foreclosure sales, the purchaser of that property knows there is a period that the owner can restore the property. The only difference is once the "innocent/victim" shows fraud in Court, the responsibility falls on the transferee/lender to chase down the person or company that scammed them to obtain their funds. If the lender or transferee is left "holding the bag" on these fraudulent transfers, greater care will be taken to confirm the validity of the transaction.
If those holders are allowed 30 days to challenge transactions, there is no reason that land and homeowners shouldn't be given 6-12 months to restore heir status.
