Roy Oppenheim speaks on Quit Claim Deeds
By Oppenheim Law on Foreclosure, News & Media, Real Estate & Roy Oppenheim
Charles: In the face of mounting foreclosures, many desperate homeowners are falling for a scheme that actually ends up costing them everything.
Neki: Local 10’s Calvin Hughes has a word of caution about a common practice that could have costly consequences.
Calvin: After more than 20 years in this Lauderhill home, Jenice Sheard found herself facing foreclosure last summer and was desperate to get out.
Jenice: I go with the sale home because I wanted to relocate to another state, okay? But after all of this happened, then I’ve been powerless.
Calvin: Sheard thought she was saving the home by signing a quitclaim deed. Weston real estate attorney Roy Oppenheim says it’s a dangerous assumption.
Roy: What’s very complicated, people are clueless what they’re doing. They think they’re not really deeding their property away and they are.
Calvin: Now, Oppenheim says quitclaim deeds are the key to common mortgage rescue scam. The new deed holder may promise to take over the mortgage and back taxes but never does, letting the house continue into foreclosure. Meanwhile, the new deed holder could take out any equity left in the property, making it impossible for the original owner to ever buy it back.
Charles: And while the original owner has no title to the property, Oppenheim says they may still be on the hook for the loan.
Roy: And a lot of times people come along, they offer you some deal to get you out of your mortgage, you give ’em a quitclaim deed and you think you’re done. You think you’re done and you’re not done, because if in fact that person then sells the property and the mortgage isn’t properly paid off, and there’s a deficiency, and the bank received some money but not all the money, they will come after the person who originally owned the property.
Calvin: Jenice Sheard knows it’s too late to undo the mistake she made, but she hopes her story serves as a warning to others.
Jenice: Do not let anyone try to scam you. Don’t let anybody try to talk to you out of what you have.