Dugan added that the criminals work in groups seeking out homes of unsuspecting people.
“In our experience, [the victims are] seniors, people with tax delinquencies, people with mortgage delinquencies, and especially homes where the record owner is dead,” she said.
People who aim to commit deed fraud find those homes by looking at death records and obituaries. They determine that the properties are tied up and families cannot handle untangling a title because of the cost and the process, which makes them easy targets.
The average cost to retrieve a home could total $10,000 or more.
There are approximately 10,000 homes with so-called “tangled titles,” which aren’t in the rightful owner’s name. About 75 to 100 are “stolen” every year according to city officials, who have been working hard with new programs designed to help widows, children and other rightful heirs probate the estate and take title to the properties.