August 31, 2015
What follows should not be construed as legal advice. As a general rule, it’s a smart philosophy to seek legal advice for a lawyer and be wary of legal guidance from a non-lawyer. The best legal advice any non-lawyer can dispense is, “talk to a lawyer”.
A reader got in touch recently with a question about FHA refinance loans. He asked about a situation where the bank’s title search uncovered a lien against the property from a third party. “…Title search showed that the property was also deeded to another person that had a lien on the property.”
“We went to two trusted lawyers that advised us to file Bankruptcy because the other property owner was in trouble with the law and that the Title insurance we paid for was for the lender not us. Could you give us any advice in this matter?”
Readers should know that “ask a lawyer” is the first thing that springs to mind, but there’s another angle that is important to call attention to in cases like these–not all lawyers have expertise or understanding of real estate law.
A more helpful piece of advice in this situation would be to instruct the home owner to seek legal counsel from a local or regional lawyer who has specific legal experience in real estate law and understands how that laws of that state might affect the outcome of any case brought as a result of contacting legal counsel.
A simple understanding of the law isn’t enough to navigate the complexities of certain legal issues associated with titles, liens, property ownership, and disputes about same. Subject matter experts in real estate law are helpful, legal experts with real estate law knowledge even more so.
A borrower may wish to contact the FHA directly at 1-800 CALL FHA to discuss the situation in general to inquire whether it’s possible that FHA guidelines were not fully met with the original loan. The FHA cannot dispense legal advice to any callers, but it may be able to help determine whether the original loan was in compliance and what steps might be taken if not.
Do you work in residential real estate? You should know about the free tool offered by FHA.com. It’s designed especially for real estate websites–a widget that displays FHA loan limits for the counties serviced by those websites.
It is easy to spend a few seconds customizing the state, counties, and widget size for the tool; you can copy the code and paste it into your website with ease. Get yours today: http://www.fha.com/fha_loan_limits_widget
Joe Wallace has been specializing in military and personal finance topics since 1995. His work has appeared on Air Force Television News, The Pentagon Channel, ABC and a variety of print and online publications. He is a 13-year Air Force veteran and a member of the Air Force Public Affairs Alumni Association. He was Managing editor for www.valoans.com for (8) years and is currently the Associate Editor for FHANewsblog.com.
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