Bode says she's hoping to push for changes that could prevent deed fraud from happening to other homeowners. "How can we fortify that process to make sure that it isn't ripe for fraud and abuse," Bode adds. She met with Craig Adams after Adams discovered a warranty deed by Dawn Mangum Estate was filed on his 8,300-square-foot home in North Raleigh, despite Adams living in it and owning it.
Mangum is criminally charged in the case. She made her first appearance in front of a judge after being charged with attempting to obtain property under false pretense. When Troubleshooter Diane Wilson spoke to Mangum last week, she said everything was done by law as she thought the property was in foreclosure and she believes by law you can claim an abandoned property. Once she learned the property wasn't in foreclosure, she said she stopped all paperwork.
Bode says after meeting with Adams, she has come up with a multiprong approach to try and prevent deed fraud in North Carolina. Bode says one avenue she's pursuing involves fraud alerts. While the Wake County Register of Deeds office offers homeowners the option to sign up for fraud alerts, that notify you if anything is recorded that involves your name, not all counties in North Carolina offer it.
"Legislatively we would like to see an appropriation for every register of deeds in North Carolina to be able to have that program, but also we would like for that program to be an opt-out program as opposed to an opt-in program."
This means that if you own a property, it is de facto going to be put into that fraud alert system and you have to go to seek to be taken out of that fraud alert system. Just to really ensure the people are getting that extra layer of protection," Bode also wants to push for changes when it comes to verifying the notary on important paperwork filed with the register of deeds office.
"We talked about potentially putting a barcode on a notary seal. So a register of deeds could scan it and then it can cross reference in a database. Just to make sure that you know it's an active notary and that the seal hasn't been stolen, or misused, or abused."
One more avenue Bode says she wants to pursue is making it easier to undo a fraudulent deed. She adds, "Where all parties extensively accept the fact that it's a fraudulent deed, that you know we can right this wrong in an expedited fashion that doesn't make the victim of it fork out thousands and thousands of dollars." When it comes to Adams and the warranty deed Mangum filed on his property, he said he knows he still owns his home and the deed Mangum filed on his home will not show up on a title search if he sells his property. Still, he has filed a civil lawsuit against Mangum.
Right now in NC, the only way to undo Mangum's warranty deed is for a judge to hear the case and rule it's fraudulent.
Bode says she has not spoken with other legislators yet on her push to make these changes to prevent deed fraud, but says, "I am very hopeful, and I am optimistic that there are folks in the legislature who are going to want to make sure that stuff like this doesn't happen going forward. We all know that North Carolina is a growing state and that there are a lot of people who want to come here buy homes and raise their families here. So we just want to make sure that folks are protected when they do that here in North Carolina."
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