Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Patterns of activity
● Frequency of events
● Regular repetition or varied occurrences
● Cash-in or cash out refinancings - measure flow of funds over time
● Do transactions support each other? - virtual "property kiting"
● Property activity matches income/lifestyle?
● Separate tracks of activity or consolidated
● When property is the subject, value change up/down, who was involved, chronic defect?
● Principal residence, homestead, secondary residence, or rental - connected to fraud
● If a flip, was appraisal inflated? Does increase match market or improvements?
● Improvements supported by income - common money laundering method to pay
contractor in cash
● Any breaks in the chain of title?
Types of documents
● Deeds - types, meanings
● Mortgages - uses, more information contained on these - 20+ pages of info
● Liens - even paid off lien records are valuable, perhaps more so
● Releases - timeline of loan payoffs, important events in subjects history
● Assignments - valid chain of assignment, who was the servicer? New source of contact/
financial information on the subject
● Foreclosure filings - NOD, lis pendens, sale under power, sheriffs deed, who are the
parties?
● Power of attorney - red flag for fraud
● Look at recordings immediately before and after in deed book
● Easements, mineral rights, leasehold interests
● Commercial property considerations
Elements of a document
1. Grantor-grantee
2. Signatures
3. Witnesses
4. Notary
5. Prepared-by
6. Financial terms
7. Dates/times
8. Special conditions, addendum's
9. Legal description - boundaries
10. Easements - access possibilities
11. Recorded date vs executed date
David Pelligrinelli
Copyright 2010