How Has MERS Damaged Real Estate Title?

October 24, 2011 1:30pm by Barry Ritholtz

Be sure to check out the Harbinger Analytics Group white paper, MERS: the Unreported Effects of Lost Chain of Title on Real Property Owners in the Think Tank.

Here is the abstract:

“Thanks to the Mortgage Electronic Registry System’s (“MERS”) failure to accurately complete and/or publically record property conveyances in the frenzy of banks securitizing home loans and in subsequent foreclosure actions,1 neighbors to a foreclosed property (with a sequential conveyance) as well as the foreclosed property itself will have unclear boundaries and clouded/unmarketable titles making it difficult, if not impossible, for these homeowners to sell their properties and for subsequent purchasers to obtain title insurance on that property. MERS now keeps electronic records on about half of the home mortgages in the United States.

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