Expert: Dick Dennis - 6/8/2010

Question
Hi there.  I have been trying to refinance my home for the last year.  The home was purchased from the bank (foreclosure) in 2003.  The older side of the home is manufactured, on a permanent foundation and it has a large stick built addition.  The problem we had run into is that there is no information for a retired title for the manufactured side of the home and there is no visible serial number on it to do a search for a retired title.  I have contacted the bank, the lawyers through which we had  closed, the DMV and the court house trying to find the information I need, but no one can help me without the serial number. I know without this information I can't sell or refinance, so what do I do?  Thank you so much for your time and any information you can give me!

Answer
I don't know in which state the property is located, Cathleen, but it would seem to me that the lawyers are just being lazy, knowing they would probably not get paid for the work they would have to do to satisfy your request. They plain ol' goofed.

Sometime in the past the manufactured portion was permanently attached to the land. Therefore, somebody must search through the title information at the county records, if you cannot get a title company to do it for you. This is the part that the attorney doesn't want to do. It is time consuming. But you can do it. Just ask questions at the county records what you must do to dig into history. You may find this interesting going back into history. You may find out who attached the manufactured portion to the land and if that person is still around, you may be able to contact him. Chances are the serial number was on the portion that was NOT connected to your property. Sounds like it was a sluff job to me.

The people at the title company do this kind of stuff for a living. So, you may want to ask a researcher there what it would cost to do this for you. There might be a possibility that you would not be charged as long as the title insurance is handled with his company. I do wish you well, Cathleen.

Dick Dennis
dixiedee13@aol.com