>

What's wrong with the Torrens system? I'm honestly curious.
The article should be saying some poor folks thought they were buying a home only to find out they were being scammed by some impersonators, this article makes it sound like the actual owners no longer have their home and if that’s the case then that’s f-ed up, laws should exist to not let that be the case. >

Isn't this what title insurance is for? >

You'd be surprised how many people turn down title insurance thinking it's "too expensive." >

A friend of mine bought a house.  It later turned out the house was built on the wrong property. So they purchased a house but the title showed they owned the land next to the one their house was on.  
Title insurance kicked in and the insurance paid for the land the house was sitting on. >

Did they get to keep both set of land? >

Ok I didn’t want to go there but there was some real legal wrangling and fighting.  And to my fucking astonishment yes, he got to keep the parcel of land that was next to the house that he actually bought thinking he was buying the parcel under the house.  
He got both tracts of land.  He paid for the tract next door and the title insurance paid for the tract under his house. >

Wow I thought it was a possibility but you would think there would be a clause where the title insurance would keep the tract he isn’t using. >

Yeah me too.  There were technicalities involving presumption of fraud due to that state’s laws regarding real estate which made the damages recoverable be more than the value of the land so that’s how it came to be a greater sum than was necessary to put him whole again. >

Thank you for this anecdote, seriously I live for this shit. >

The other day a family friend sold their house for $1.1 Million, wasn't even on the market two days and got a cash offer sight unseen. I'm surprised these scams aren't more prevalent given how insane the market is. >

I mean, you aren't often going to find people who go on business trips for several months at a time, know when they are going, know how to get into the house easily, etc.
Even if it sold in two days, the scammers would need lots of time to cover tracks and disappear. They'd also need to find a particularly bad realtor who won't double check their identity >


particularly bad realtor

Is that 1 or 2 out of 3 realtors ? >

So do they get their house back? Does the family that bought it have to move out? Who is out the hundreds of thousands of dollars? >

The "sellers" never actually owned the house they were selling and so it still belongs to the original owners. Just like with stolen goods the buyers are the ones that were screwed out of their money and the property must be returned to the rightful owners. >

It probably depends country to country but in a lot of countries the new owner retains ownership of the property. Certainly that is true of the UK where I live. >

Source? Nemo dat applies in uk law, if you sell something that doesn't belong to you then ownership does not transfer. >

Technically sure, in practice with how inefficient the land registry is not really. >

If your car gets stolen, and sold to some innocent buyer, it’s still your car. >

Is it still your money though if you buy such a car? >

Yeah of course, the criminal has to give the money back. Good luck with that. >

Cue IASIP theme song 
The Gang Sells a House >

How is that even possible?
How do you obtain all the documents and paperwork to get to that point where you sell the home and get the money from it?
They'd get that as a wire or a cheque, they'd need to have a bank account in the name of the original owners...
I don't understand how any of this is possible. Anybody can explain? >

I’m in the USA. I called my local recorder of deeds. She said a dishonest notary gets paid to falsify a transaction. You need a dishonest third party. Then the thief gets a new deed in their name. You never know it happened. I check my deed online every week. I don’t know why I can lock my deed like you can lock your credit file. 
Don’t know how Canada works. >

So did they break in and change the locks? How were new people able to move in? And like did they move all of the owners belongings out or did the new people just move into a furnished house with someone else's personal items? So many questions >

Whoever did it knows* them. Or knows someone who knew about their trip and how long they would be gone. >

Or found out over social media. >

That's actually probably most likely it. >

most certainly >

It says the owners only realised after a few months, might have been a second home of theirs? >

They were on an extended business trip >

So all their stuff? Just sat around the house? >

Probably cleared out by the scammer. Or included with the sale. >

So who ended up being the poor suckers? The buyers I imagine? >

Typically no. They usually get to keep the property and insurance pays out the original owner for property and contents. >

That would be INSANE! That CANT be true... I mean, when you buy a stolen bicycle,  a Stolen ANYTHING, it always goes back to the original owner, the buyer gets screwed. Happens to Pawnshops all the time... that CAN'T be right - it is THEIR house, they own it, and the sale was fraudulent, it wasn't real.... maaaan, I'd be suing SO many people if that happened to me. Here it is my DREAM to one day own a home. I'd go d'n BALLISTIC if this happened to me... >

Often the new owners are not aware of the scam either. They paid in good faith at closing. Usually the personal items have been cleaned out by the scammers beforehand. 
Insurance pays the amount the property sold for to the previous owner, plus an amount for interior items. There is usually no recourse for regaining the property as it is now deeded to another.  
It happens more than people are aware. >

That makes literally zero sense.
Whats to stop me from then finding someone to fraudulently selling me some rich millionaires house while they are on a vacation for 50k cash, then claiming "Oh man I didnt knowww but I sure do get to keep the house"
Thats nuts, that can't possibly be how it plays out.
"Some random bozo fucked up and got scammed so now you lose your house and get some cash, enjoy being homeless"
yeah, no, I'd be suing everyone I possibly can and escalating that up as high as possible. Thats my fucking house, fuck that noise, the bozo's who got scammed can get paid out and be out of a house.
The original actual owner of the house 100% should be the one who gets to make the call on who can be paid out and who gets to keep the house because it's their damn house >

Shows up in our newspaper every few years. 🤷🏻‍♀️ >

How does the check hey cashed and not get cancelled? >

A similar thing happened to me once. I dated a woman who turned out to be a scam artist, and after I bought a house for "us", she broke up with me some months later. I had no intention of living in the suburbs, so I rented it out to her. Maybe 6 months after I moved out a real estate agent came into my place of work, unannounced, and had paperwork for me to sign. Apparently my house was for sale!
Luckily, I knew the agent from college. She was shocked I didn't know my house had a for sale sign on the front yard. Apparently, my ex-girlfriend had already met a new guy (to scam), they were engaged, and they were looking for a new house to buy. I went ahead and signed with the agent, and told her to immediately drive over to the house and change the hanging price sign to be $10,000 less. My ex was asking for way too much, so I was not being dumb. 
So, my ex had to tell her fiancé there was something wrong with the house, and she had to sell it immediately for no profit. I have no idea how that worked out for her (or him), but she did send me a letter from FedEx to my work that said she would "ruin my life" for doing this to her. 
** Her reasoning was that she was the one who wanted to buy the house, but she had dreadful credit. So, she tricked me into buying it, making most of the payments, and thought I would give her all the money from a sale after she dumped me out of the blue. We only dated for like 3 months before I bought the house, and 3 months after that. Good times. >

Still got it? >

No, I sold it before the market crashed in early 2007. But it had gone up 30% in a little over the year I owned it. In hindsight, I should have rented it out. >

Thank god for the Torrens System of land registry. >

Sarcasm detected.