160-Year-Old Documents Intentionally Destroyed in Franklin County, N.C.
One thing about America that a lot of folks don't understand is that - even if you have paid off your property debts - you don't actually own that property until the title has been cleared and transferred to you.<p><i>EVEN IF</i> you have paid your mortgage in full, in many cases, there will not be clear title to the property - and thus, you cannot legally own the property.<p>Title Insurance companies know this, as do most banks.  This is why there is a ~$70 "Title Clearance and/or Reconveyance Fee" that has to be paid at the end of the mortgage - by the borrower - to the Title Insurance company.<p>America has a huge backlog of uncleared title.  In some counties, there are 2 or 3 or even up to 12 generations of title to get cleared - from the earliest title transfer, to the very latest - before someone can have clear title to their property.<p>So, like the original author of this article, I suspect that there was some Title Lineage evidence in all that stack of documents, which someone didn't want to have discovered .. for some reason.<p>The lesson learned: ALWAYS CLEAR TITLE ON PROPERTY YOU INTEND TO PURCHASE.