the register of misdeeds

A New Champion

2006-07-01T19:01:00.000-04:00

This beats the previous winners, but it sort of implies that something even better is coming.

Emotional Execution

2006-07-01T18:58:00.000-04:00

She must have been happy to get rid of the property - I wish I had this cheery a signature!

And The Winner Is...

2006-06-01T23:43:00.000-04:00

...this guy. It doesn't even matter what the game is, he always wins.

The Road to Hell is Paved With Good Intent

2006-05-28T18:44:00.000-04:00

Arguably the most important part of the process of reviewing the public record is determining the intent of the person who drafted each document; in most cases - as below - that intent is pretty clear, but spelling errors and misuse of language can have serious consequences. I will admit to being pedantic about spelling and use of grammar (for reference see most other posts on this website), and in some situations - again, as below - I wish that more people felt the same.

Coming to Muskegon

2006-05-28T18:37:00.000-04:00

I thought he lived in Queens!

Every Document Tells A Story

2006-05-24T21:39:00.000-04:00

Foreclosure is almost always a messy business, and sometimes things don't go quite as planned. To wit:

Above is an affadavit by Provident Bank, the bank which foreclosed on a piece of property described in Paragraph 2.

Paragraph 3 explains that the property was foreclosed upon, and that due to inaction of the borrowers, Provident became owner of the property.

Paragraph 4 shows that there was a mobile home permanently affixed to the property (this generally means the axles are removed and it is set into a foundation).

Paragraph 5 explains that Provident sold the property.

Paragraph 6 states that another bank, Apex Financial, had a loan against the mobile home, and suggests that Apex then repossessed the home - whether this means they kicked everyone out and nailed the door shut or physically ripped it from the foundation, I'm not altogether certain (though, for purposes of the story here, we'll assume that they dragged that thing straight outta the concrete).

Then the best part (7 through 9)- Provident Bank bought the mobile home and abandoned it.

Does this mean that at the end of the story, there was half a mobile home and a half-ton of mobile home parts layin' around somewhere? That part of the story's not in here, but I think it's not a bad ending.

It's Worth Hiring A Typist

2006-05-24T21:29:00.000-04:00

I don't have time to go through the punctuation on this one - but the second sentence of the first paragraph mentions that the property is more fully described in another recorded document. Hopefully that scrivener did a better job.

A scrivener, also known as a scribe, is shorthand today for a person who drafts documents. In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke the word "scribe" is used interchangeably with "lawyer"; historically, it was a position that held great authority, in civil and military arenas. One still-active society of such capable notaries is the Scrivener's Company in London, which dates from the fourteenth century.

Apparently it's not as big a deal these days.

A Baby Names Book I Haven't Seen

2006-05-24T21:27:00.000-04:00

Not Bloody Likely

2006-05-05T01:41:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the extended hiatus - looks like the frequency of updates here may have some correlation to the amount of work I have to get done.

Anyway, this document inspired me in the middle of a stressful day.

Grown-up Jokes

2006-05-05T01:40:00.000-04:00

A Nice Place To Visit, But I Wouldn't Want To Live There

2006-02-28T18:31:00.000-05:00

...mostly because no easement for access to the house was recorded.

Now That's the Real Good News

2006-02-27T22:56:00.000-05:00

As far as church names go, I'd say it's a dead heat between the Society of Friends and this one. Maybe it's next door to this place?

Sitting on the Asses of Greatness

2006-02-22T23:02:00.000-05:00

I challenge you to come up with a better name for a plat than this.

Scrivener's Terror Volume Three

2006-02-22T22:56:00.000-05:00

Two things here - one, referencing old documents instead of typing out the description drives me batty, but in this case, the drafter had the courtesy to copy the property description from the older deed.

That referenced description has as its starting point "an iron stake driven into the roots of a maple shade tree". Why? Why would someone do that? Using as a starting point the corner of a previously existing building is enough to irritate me, but I can't for the life of me figure out why someone would use a marker that is guaranteed to be overgrown.

This Group Needs No Introduction

2006-01-31T17:52:00.000-05:00

Scrivener's Terror Redux

2006-01-30T21:12:00.001-05:00

Time to break it down; shortened calls follow each.

...or "The Southwest 1/4 corner".

...or "The center 1/4 corner". Don't like to use the center? Okay, it's still only the NE corner of the SW 1/4.

A Lifetime of Service

2006-01-30T19:34:00.000-05:00

No, not in the armed service, as a firefighter, philanthropist, or evangelical - as a notary. Congratulations, Thomas Barnard; I hope you like watching people sign things.

I'm just jealous - mine expires in 2007.

Scrivener's Terror

2006-01-26T19:12:00.000-05:00

Attorneys are often maligned for being unneccessarily long-winded; hey, when you're billing at a couple hundred dollars an hour, why not?

I just never realized it might extend to property descriptions - the "Southwest corner of the West 1/2 of the Southwest 1/4 of the Southwest 1/4" can also be described as the "Southwest corner". I bet the client had his or her lawyer draft the deed, and was then billed by the letter.

(Note: If you are an attorney, please come back again - I'll go back to making fun of surveyors and making cheap puns.)

Shouldn't Have Recorded The Deed

2006-01-24T20:03:00.000-05:00

This, part of a divorce decree, bears a valuable lesson for all of us - never do anything naughty in a non-secure location. You'll be taken to the cleaners.

This, part of the same decree, seemed odd to me - everything else is carefully accounted for, and then there's this one. Maybe it's a flexible line of credit?

Deed Looks Like A Lady

2006-01-23T17:50:00.000-05:00

If anyone can fill me in on what common feminine name "Todd" could be short for, please let me know - it just doesn't sound right.

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

2006-01-20T18:07:00.000-05:00

"Dick Hiscock"? Of course he's married.

I just noticed the grantee is "Mary, Pat Hiscock". Ha!

"...And Other Consideration"

2006-01-19T20:48:00.000-05:00

I can say with all certainty that I will never be salesman enough to get this tagged on to a deed when I sell a house.

Why Title Insurance Exists

2006-01-19T20:45:00.000-05:00

Because some people just don't quite get it. A legal description has a distinct beginning and end; this has some sides. I also especially like that to the right of the "survey" it says "The Holmstrom Living Trust". Look a couple of lines down from that to see the most magnificent signature ever put to paper.

Sign, Sign, Everywhere a Sign

2006-01-19T20:44:00.000-05:00

Yep, that'll work.

Culinary Consideration

2005-12-22T13:07:00.000-05:00

I hope that when I get old and it's my kids' turn to take care of me I don't have to record something forcing them to do so.

Your Regularly Scheduled Programming

2005-12-19T12:47:00.000-05:00

I've hit a bit of a dry spell - haven't run across anything funny of late.

I am saving up a bunch of "funny name" deeds; any of you examiners out there who are wasting valuable work time here - send me what you've got!

When You Were My Age

2005-12-02T22:55:00.000-05:00

Today's title plant is one that consists largely of bits and bytes; the county in which I spend most of my time has a computerized index of the public records that dates from 1996 forward. But not long ago, the compilation of those records was done by hand: on index cards, thousands of little tiny envelopes, punched-card sheets, or any other way the "poster" could come up with to organize hundreds of square miles of land, and the pieces of paper people used to describe them.

Ownership of real property is one of the things this country and others rely on as a basis of liberty; every thousand pages or so, when records were photographed instead of scanned digitally, a clerk might get careless and pull the camera back too far.

These are two of the hands that kept records of that real property in Ottawa County, Michigan, in 1946.

...To This Indenture You Set Your Hand

2005-12-02T11:27:00.000-05:00

I've set up comments and "trackback" links for each of the misDeeds here; I'll leave the comments unmoderated so long as spam doesn't start showing up.

Regards,

Rich Ard

Bad Call

2005-11-28T18:40:00.000-05:00

The hallmark of a practiced surveyor and assessor is the legible and comprehensible property description: as few "calls" (instructions) as possible, omitting extraneous information, while still describing a precise boundary line. In conjunction with an old hand who's good with ink and mylar, a good property description can be a beautiful thing.

Or there's the easy way out, evidenced below - a complete conveyance, and the sort of thing that drives people assembling title plants crazy.

Beer to Close

2005-11-25T09:24:00.000-05:00

How do you pay transfer tax on liquid assets?

A Messy Divorce

2005-11-10T23:05:00.000-05:00

This, from a Judgment of Divorce, is a listing of those parts of the marital estate which the defendant gets to keep. I've showed this to several people, and the consensus so far is that it can't possibly say "cum disco".

But it does!

Not Very Interesting

2005-11-01T23:22:00.000-05:00

That's a conveyance of 1/(10⁶³) of this property's title. It takes a unique sense of humor to decide to type something like this out.

The Law of Diminishing Tax Returns

2005-10-27T21:32:00.000-04:00

During a search today, I came across this affadavit executed by an out-of-state owner who felt that an inordinately large tax assessment was tantamount to a taking of his property without just compensation. As I lean toward libertarianism, this cheered me - I was impressed at his efforts to fight the beast Leviathan.

Then I saw how he acquired the property:

That, if you're not familiar, is a Deed the Michigan Department of Natural Resources uses to convey property taken for non-payment of taxes. This property was purchased from the State for thirty dollars.

Dick.

No Banks, no Brothels

2005-10-27T08:13:00.000-04:00

Are they trying to equate whorehouses and wholesale lenders? I'm just disappointed because this means my favorite bank, "XXX Savings and Loan", will never get a foothold in this market.

Housing Market Must Be Smoking

2005-10-25T22:23:00.000-04:00

I've been doing more commercial than residential work of late, and while it's a lot of fun, it can be grueling - once in a while, something like this pops up and gets me laughing.

The same name game

2005-10-13T15:07:00.000-04:00

One of the things one does when preparing an title opinion or abstract is a search of the entities party to the transaction, which serves to show any bankruptcy, state or federal tax liens, death certificates, Department of Homeland Security and other documents filed against the parties.

Sometimes you'll find that your party has a common name, and have to sort through a pile of liens and death certificates against that other "John Doe" - and today, while looking through several probate and other various documents, I watched as a woman in her mid-50's altered her will several times, and then overdosed on barbituates.

I have a very narrow view of the lives that go on around the forty years of documents I search for each property; sometimes it gets wider than I'd like.

Where does she send the check?

2005-10-08T22:37:00.000-04:00

And who executes the discharge?

Convenient conveyance

2005-09-20T08:22:00.000-04:00

It's "quit-claim", as in a relinquishing of interest, not "quick-claim", like making something up on the spot. Where do these come from? Is there a clearinghouse of misspelled deeds at which one can purchase this stuff?

That ugly remainder

2005-09-20T08:21:00.000-04:00

So who gets the rest?

Accuracy, not precision

2005-09-19T22:55:00.000-04:00

In a surveyor's line of work, it's important that everything be done to tight tolerances.

By the way, that's "or less".

Let loose the hounds

2005-09-19T22:11:00.000-04:00

Sometimes you have to spell this stuff out as clearly as possible.