Again, if the general public starts searching their own properties, then there's no need for abstractors/searchers within the industry is what you are basically telling me.  

And, as an examiner, it's bad enough that there are "professional" searchers who miss deeds, easements, etc as is.  Heaven help us if the average Joe starts questioning professional services because they think they can DIY a 60 year property search.

Your job at stake, not mine   LOL  

The reality is that the "title theft" angle has to be an elaborate scheme set up by multiple parties in order to "steal" a deed.

And, as I mentioned before, if a homeowner received documentation stating they were being foreclosed on, why would they ignore it?

I was a witness to a case where a property was "sold" 4 times.  The first sale was legit to a point, with the Sellers being the actual sellers and took place in an attorney's office with me as the title witness closer only doing pick ups and marking up the binder.

The 3 subsequent "sales" were done within 5 days of the original closing.  Same "buyer" as the first closing.  Had a NJ DL for ID.  The subsequent "sellers" were ringers who looked very much like the real sellers, physically.

Apparently, a car dealership had been hacked and ID theft of all their clients.  Think about it, a dealership has the same info on a buyer, esp if they financed the car.  So name, ID, address, SS etc

The subsquent sales were conducted by attorneys.  The all accepted a "payoff" statement from the existing lender being paid off bc funds from the first transaction was wired to the bank.  However, that bank did not provide a ZERO BALANCE letter.  They accepted the old payoff statement only and did not question anything raised a red flag:

1. Why is the Seller paying off a mortgage that had been 6 months in arrears, just 2 days before closing?

2. Where did the Seller obtain funds, since they had not made a house payment in 6 months?

3. Where was proof and source of funds?

The list goes on and on.  The person whose Identity was stolen knew nothing about these transactions.  They were not against his property.  The theft ring used only his name and credit, but not his address.

So, he received notices that he was in foreclosure from 4 different banks on a property he had never owned.

Now, flip this entire idea back to a person who owns a property.  If you started receiving notices that your loan is behind, you would not question that if  A. You don't have a mortgage?  B. You have a mortgage but your payments are on time.

The premise of the "Title Theft" insurance is to make sure your deed is secure?  It's pretty unlikely that someone is going to just waltz in and make a copy of your deed to gain access to your info.  Your deed is signed by who you bought it from.  Your deed does not have your signature on it.

So, that means the thief would need to have a document with your signature on it.   Well, a mortgage would have the signature, sure.  But what if you don't have a mortgage?

Then you have to take the whole thing through the closing process.  So, the notary would have to be in on it, b/c they have to ID you, a bank/loan office would have to be in on it, since they take all your financials, the title agency would have to be in on it, b/c yes, we DO look at signatures to make sure they match documents, whoever is conducting the closing would have to be in on it, b/c they have to verify your source of funds, etc.

So in essence, it's not really that easy to create a bogus deed, obtain a new mortgage and close on it.  The standard risk protocols would question how the "new deed holder" came into title.

Title insurance manages the risk. 


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