According to the Mortgage Asset Research Institute, Florida ranks third in the number of reported mortgage fraud cases. In fact, for most of the past decade, Florida has led the nation by substantial margins in mortgage fraud rates. For these reasons, it’s become even more imperative that homebuyers purchase title insurance to protect their homes.
A family is victimized
After having decided to start a family, the Morgans, a young couple in Florida, recently purchased a plot of land on which they planned to build their dream home. The couple bought a one-acre tract of land, which they thought to be a smart investment, considering the competitive prices in Florida’s aggressive real estate market. 		After only a few months of being property owners, the Morgans received an unnerving phone call from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement informing them they were victims of real estate fraud. The property’s seller had forged deeds to himself for the property of deceased and foreign owners and then resold the property to unknowing buyers – such as the Morgans – and pocketed the profit. It was found that the seller had committed this string of deed forgery acts more than 200 times. CONTINUED ON THE NEXT PAGE »