I learned about a notary and
real estate scam, back a year or so ago, and I don't have first hand
information so this entire story should be viewed as 'apocryphal'.
The
owner of a house in DC died. His heirs who were
out of state were a bit slow in probating the will, which had some
flaw, I understand. None of this is huge, so far, but time and a half
pressed on and the house was finally put on the market by DC for failure
to pay taxes. It was bought through a tax sale
and notarized by a fake or unregistered Notary. The person who bought
at the tax sale sold to a second person who was also a fake and also
using a fake notary. This latest "buyer" left a fake name and a fake
address in Phoenix, AZ. Years passed. The house
deteriorated so badly that the next neighbor painted the exterior and
repaired a lot of it to keep it up and to avoid living next to a
nightmare. You could hear the raccoons (or something) in the house and
it was a haven for feral cats. In fact, DC has a
provision (thanks to the cat lobby) that says homeowners who have been
visited by feral cats can have established a "feral cat feeding
station," and are enjoined from changing that situation to the
disadvantage of the cats.
What a mess! Coupled with
the Vacant Home Act, which magnifies the taxes of houses that are deemed
vacant for more than 30 days. These "Vacant" houses have their real
estate taxes raised by a factor of 5...meaning if
the taxes were $6000, the tax would then become $30,000. And to show
you that the DC tax office is your friend, if the house is blighted, the
taxes are raised by a factor of 10 taking it all the way to $60,000. Think of the ramifications for this for a town
of transients...politicos who maintain their homes in other states or
even countries and who come and go like seasonal workers... (like the
Australian Sundowners who visit in the late winter early spring to shear
the sheep for their annual haircuts). All it
takes is a complaint from a neighbor and a visit from the Vacant Home
office of the DCRA and you are [1. toast, 2. hosed, 3. screwed, blued
and tattooed. (Pick one or more)]
Scary enough? Well, there's a
bright side to this story (but not for the neighbors, sorry to say). The fake owners proceeded to file suit against each other. Governmental
agencies are remarkably reluctant to enter the
legal arena in the midst of a fight so they stood back and let this
battle rage. Since the main owner of record was fake and the notary was
fake, the authorities had no alternative but to get a court's
judgement, but wait, since there's a prior lawsuit raging,
DC couldn't act.
Yow.
Good news...the fake owners
were unmasked and unhorsed finally, the house was taken off the Vacant
home list and a developer stepped in to clean up (boy, did he clean
up!). It sold almost as soon as it hit the market
for way more than anyone expected. The fact that this happened in one
of the plushest of the expensive neighborhoods makes the story even
more interesting but as it was of only tangential value to me, I was a
mere observer.
