Sept. 23, 2025

Protecting Your Home from Fraudulent Deed Transfers with a HELOC

Fraudulent deed transfers are on the rise. In this week’s podcast, I’ll explain why owning your home free and clear can actually make you a target, and how a simple tool — a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) — can help protect your title.
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Well, good afternoon, Michiganders, and welcome back to Tuesday with

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Tom Michigan's Only podcast where we talk about estate planning,

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a state settlement, and everything in between. As always, I'm

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your host, Tom Doyle, the state planning attorney, lifelong Michigander

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and your guide to planning for your future. Brief recap

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of last episode, Goodbye to Paper Checks. I talked about

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the new federal e payments mandate that is going to

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likely affect all of you that are listening to this

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program because it means the federal government is no longer

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going to be issuing paper checks, and the federal government

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is no longer going to be accepting your paper check

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for deposit. So you have your income tax return prepared,

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you owe taxes, you normally write a check and you

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send it off, or you're making your quarterly payments, you

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write a check and you send it off. None of

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that is going to be available for you any longer.

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What you're going to have to do is have things

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done electronically. Or you're looking for a tax refund. You

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might have waited for that check to come in the

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mail so that you could cash it. That check is

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not coming in the mail. It's going to have to

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be electronically transferred to you by the federal government. So

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all of you need to be aware of this important

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change that takes effect on October first, which is only

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about seven days from now. So I encourage all of

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you listen to last week's episode today's show though, protecting

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your home from fraudulent deed transfers with a heelock. But

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remember what I'm about to discuss is meant to be

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for educational purposes only. It is not intended to be

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legal advice. As always, you need to work with your attorney,

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your tax advisor, your financial advisor to determine what makes

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the most sense for you and your planning. Protecting your

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home from fraudulent deed transfers with a helock. Well, let's

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just start out with what is happening and why deed

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fraud is a growing problem in the age of online

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real estate records. Today, in most counties in the state

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of Michigan, real estate records are available either for free

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or for a very small price for downloading through an

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internet connection. So anybody can go to a Register of

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Deed's office where your home is located. Most likely we'll

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be able to download a copy of that deed. Now,

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there can be very good reasons why people might need

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to download a copy of your deed. You might need

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a copy, we might.

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Need a copy in preparing your estate.

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But here is the fraud problem that is brought about

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because of online real estate records. Anybody can go download

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a copy of the deed. Anybody can then prepare a

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deed transferring that property from you to somebody else. Anybody

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could sign or have that deed sign and with the

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cooperation of a notary who might not actually even be

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a legitimate notary but is willing to sign on as

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a notary, you will have had a deed or they

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will have had a deed prepared transferring your property from

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you to somebody else. So that is what a fraudulent

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deed transfer is, downloading a deed, preparing a new fake deed,

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having it executed and notarized and recorded in Many of

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you right there are going to be saying to yourself, says,

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wait a minute, the deed has to be recorded. Doesn't

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the Register of Deeds office make sure that I actually

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executed the deed before they record it? Short answer, No,

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all the Registered Deed's office is doing is making sure

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that the deed on its face meets the statutory requirements

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for recording a deed. That is, it's got appropriate margins,

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it's executed, it's got a notary, it's legible, it has

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a legal description, et cetera, et cetera. So the registered

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deed's office simply records the deed. They don't call you

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up and say, hey, Bob, did you sign this deed

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that is now being recorded.

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They don't do any of that.

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So, now, what's the consequence to you when this fraudulent

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deed is prepared?

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Well?

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One that deed now creates a title, creates a cloud

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on your title to your property because anybody who would

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then go to their registered deed's office and look to

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see who owns it, which is normally what happens when

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somebody is going to buy property. It's going to show

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somebody else owns it. If you tried selling the property,

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you would discover that, in fact, it had been transferred

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to somebody else without your knowledge, which obviously creates a

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cloud on your title. It's going to cost you money

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for an attorney and time to unwide the unwanted if

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you will that fraud and the other problem. Obviously, somebody

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is not going through all of this just to own

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your home. They're going through all of this to do

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one of two things. Either turn around and sell that

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home to an unsuspected person who that person they're selling

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it to is going to go to the Registered deeds

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office see that there's a deed recorded with their registered

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deeds showing that the property got transferred to this fraudster.

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Or it's possible that they.

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Will then go and turn around and apply for a

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mortgage on the property just like you. But hey, I've

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got property. I'm going to the bank. I want to

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get a loan. They're going to put a lien on

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the property. I'm looking for the money. So some of

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the fraudsters actually are there to sell it, and some

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of them are there merely to get the cash. They

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don't care whether it sells or not. They now have

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the money from the bank. So that is what deed

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fraud is today, and because of the ready availability for

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online records, it's becoming a bigger problem. Now, let's say

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you have a mortgage on your property. Well, okay, what

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a mortgage does is it has a lien. The bank

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is going to have a recorded lien on your property,

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so that if somebody goes to the registered deed's office,

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they will see, Hey, there's a lien on this property.

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This owner owes money to bank A and before I

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can receive good title from somebody who's trying to transfer

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it to me, BANKA needs to be paid off. So

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there's a lien on the property, and that makes it

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more difficult than for the fraudster to actually transfer the

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property one in the first place. They're discouraged because of

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the LEAN. So when they're looking through registered deeds records,

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they can find out if you have a lien on

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your property. Same register of deeds records that's going to

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show that mortgage is also going to show any liens

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that are on the property. So with the LEAN, in

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all likelihood, the fraudster is going to say, wait a minute,

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I'm going to look for a property that doesn't have

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a lien on it, because if I'm going to try

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and commit a fraud, I now have to be dealing

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with the bank, and I have to convince the bank

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that it's a fraud, that it's a correct transfer, and

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I just don't want to deal with any of that.

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So we're going to be looking for property.

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They're going to be looking for property that doesn't have

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a lien, which means what you've got a mortgage, you

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pay your mortgage off, that lean is going to be discharged.

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And so when that lien gets discharged your bank, essentially

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that protection of the lean, protecting not not designed to

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but in practicality protecting you from the roster fraudster, goes away.

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So think about that, all right.

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The vulnerability, the biggest vulnerability, is going to be for

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mortgage free homes. Most of us are excited when we

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finally pay off our mortgage. I remember when my wife

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and I paid off the mortgage on our home. Isn't

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that great? We've made our last payment. We own the

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home outright. We don't have to make these monthly payments

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to the mortgage company, we don't have to have an

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escrow for our taxes, insurance, et cetera, et cetera, And

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we now own the home free and clear, and we

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get a copy of that mortgage discharge, and we say

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we've accomplished the American dream of owning a mortgage free home. Unfortunately, though,

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from what I just discussed, that status of now being

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mortgage free can actually make your property an easier target

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for deed fraud, and often, unfortunately, as we know, oftentimes fraud,

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whether it's a fraudulent deed transfer or other types of

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fraud that we've talked about before, often target seniors and

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long term homeowners. Why because it's the seniors or the

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long term homeowner that it has likely paid off their home.

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If somebody is young and just bought the home, they're

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likely going to have a mortgage on it, and that

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mortgage is going to effectively prevent them from that mortgage

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d that fraudulent deed occurring.

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So they're going to be again.

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Targeting seniors and targeting long term home owners. So you've

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paid your mortgage off, you don't want to take out

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a new mortgage because it's paid off, you don't want

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to be making payments.

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Well, consider.

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A home equity line of credit called a heelock.

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What is that?

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So you go to your bank or your lightening institution,

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whoever you're dealing with, and you set up a home

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equity line of credit. That doesn't mean you're actually taking

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the money. It simply means you could take the money

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if you decide that you need it. But in that

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process of taking out the heelock. What's going to happen.

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Your bank, your credit union, your mortgage company, whoever you're

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getting the heelock through, is going to put a lean.

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On your property.

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It's very similar to a mortgage in the sense that

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it's a lean.

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Okay, just like.

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Your mortgage would have a lien on your property. But

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the difference can be you're not taking the money, You're

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just setting up the ability to take money if you should.

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Decide that you needed to use the fund.

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So once you do that, go back to our fraudster,

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go back to someone who's looking at register deed's records.

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They're looking saying, hey, this home has a lean against it.

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We're gonna skip over this one. We're not gonna commit

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fraud on this home because it has a lean. Why because,

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just like that mortgage, if they want to try now

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selling that home, the lean has to be addressed. The

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lean holder, the lender is going to be involved.

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And so again that's going.

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To add that layer of security and verification before any

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transfer occurs. So pay your home off, get rid of

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your mortgage. But one way to address and protect yourself

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now from the vulnerabilility that is basically now being created

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by paying your mortgage off is to put in place

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a helock. Now, if you do this, obviously there's going

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to be a cost involved with it. You're going to

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have to check, you know, with your different lenders on

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what's the appropriate helock for you and what's the cost

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of doing that. But that's all part of the consideration

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in trying to protect your home from that fraud. Now

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you might be saying, too, Hey, you know what I

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see on TV these services right where they say they're

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going to check my they're going to check my real

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estate for me, They're going to let me know and

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they're going to protect my real estate from being sold

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to fraudsters. Well, the problem, the problem with that service

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is they are not knowing that a new deed has

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been prepared. They don't know when a new deed has

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been recorded. They are finding out on your behalf that

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a new deed has been recorded sometime after it's been recorded.

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Well, you could do the exact same thing. You could say,

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you know.

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What, every month, every month, I'm going to go online,

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I'm going to.

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Go look at the registered deeds records.

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I'm going to look at my home on the registered

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deeds records to find out if there has been a

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transfer of my home.

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But all of that is after the fact.

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By then, by the time you find out, it's very

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possible that that home has been old, or that home

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has now had a mortgage, or that your home not

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that home, your home has been sold, or that your

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home has had a mortgage on it. What the heelock

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does for you is that it puts a layer of

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security in varication before the home can be sold, before

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a mortgage.

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Can be placed on the property.

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So don't listen to those TV ads and think that

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that's somehow a solution to your problem. Also, we're very

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keen on recommending to our clients if available. Oftentimes the

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registered deed's offices do themselves have services available where they

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will notify you if a deed gets recorded. Well, again,

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they're notifying you after the deed's been recorded, which by

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then and by the time you find that out, if

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somebody's going to fraudulently take your deed, they're not looking

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to hold on to that deed. It's getting it recorded,

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it's getting it sold asap, or taking out a loan asap,

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all which could occur before you even know it. Think

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though too, there can be some additional benefits to you

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of the helock. Beyond avoiding the fraudulent transfer, it would

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give you access to emergency funds. So if you've got

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a helock set up, even if you haven't taken the money,

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usually it's pretty quick when you contact your lender to

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have funds put into your account. Also, if you are

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going to borrow money, if you think about it, that

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by virtue of a helock, oftentimes the interest rates might

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in fact be lower than other forms of credit, so

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you might be better off using those funds that are

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available to even pay off higher credit maybe credit cards

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or whatever it happens that you have. And generally speaking,

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with a helock, you don't have to take the money,

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you don't have to draw the funds.

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You can just leave it in the bank.

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While you're still receiving the protection of that lean that's

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been filed against your property. Obviously you sell the property then,

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or your air sell the property, the lean's going to

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have to be discharged, certainly, but if you haven't borrowed

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anything under the heelock, there's really nothing to repay. It's

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just getting the lean discharge. Now, some other fraud prevention

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measures again that you might consider one regularly monitor your

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records through your Registered deed's office. But now you have

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to do that, you have to regularly go out and

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look and see if somebody has put a lien on

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your home. Again, sign up for that property fraud Alert

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service from the Registered Deeds office, because that's normally free.

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I'm not talking about one of.

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These services that you see advertising on TV where they're

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essentially charging you to do what you can do for free,

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which is to regularly go and look at your records

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if that's what you want to do, or at least

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sign up with the fraud alert service from your Registered

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deeds which is again generally free with at least as

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far as I know, most if not all other registered

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deeds offices in the state of Michigan. And of course,

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identity theft in general. This has nothing to do with

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the real estate, but identity and JEFF in general. Please

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make sure you're keeping your personal identification information secure. Please

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know if you're giving out your Social Security number, who

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you're giving it to and why you're giving it to them,

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Or if you're giving somebody even a copy of the

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deed to your home, why are you giving it to

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somebody and what are they going to do with that?

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All those kinds of things, birthdays, all those kinds of things,

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which generally simply has to do in general with preventing

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identity theft. So enclosing you've paid off your mortgage, please

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consider having If you haven't paid your mortgage off, don't

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worry about it because there's a lean. But if you've

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paid your mortgage off, I encourage you consider having a

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heelock as a tool to protect your home from fraudulent

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ded transfers. In fact, we have been told recently about

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by a client who when they went to their bank,

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and we're doing banking for other reasons, that bank apparently,

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when they are talking to their customers, who in fact

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have paid off their mortgages, that they are recommending to

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their customers, they are affirmatively saying to their customers, hey,

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your home would be more secure from a fraudulent transfer

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if you take out a helock. So some of the

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banks are even getting involved in attempting, apparently to be

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proactive in protecting their customers. So meet with your bank,

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or meet with your credit union, wherever it is that

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you're doing your banking and explore what it would take to.

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Get a helock.

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And again, remember it's not really about borrowing money. I

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know some of you look and say, well, I don't

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want to borrow more money. I don't want to have

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a lean against my home because I paid it off.

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It's not about that at all. You don't have to

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borrow the money. You just need to set up the

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helock so that you create that protective shield on your title.

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So review your situation, speak with a trusted lender, and

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if need be, even consult with professional legal professional such

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as US. But you probably aren't going to need that

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so much as much as it is just working with

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your own lender to see what it would take to

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put that helock in place. Of course, as all simply

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switching gears a little bit, Aman and I would be

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honored to help you protect but you love.

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Whether that means.

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Creating a new estate plan for you, updating an existing one,

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or perhaps answering your questions if you have any about

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00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:13.759
today's program, or guiding you through the estate settlement process

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during a difficult time. We try to make it easy

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and convenient to get started. We have appointments in office,

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appointments available in both Grand Rapids and lancing. We have

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virtual consultations that can be by sooom or phoned wherever

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you are in the state of Michigan. And if all

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00:23:33.559 --> 00:23:37.799
you're looking for is one document, Let's say you already

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have your state plan in place, but you need a

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00:23:40.799 --> 00:23:43.599
new certificate of trust, or maybe you need a new

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00:23:43.640 --> 00:23:47.559
power of attorney, whatever happens to be encourage you visit

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the legal store at our website where you can order

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00:23:52.519 --> 00:23:56.480
individual documents online and all of that. How to schedule

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00:23:56.519 --> 00:24:00.279
an appointment, whether it's in person or virtual, or our

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00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:05.640
legal store all available at Doyle LAWPC dot com, which

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00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:28.079
is the website for the office. Well, I think that's

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going to be a wrap for today's show.

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As always.

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Ooh, if you have a comment or a question you'd

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00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:36.000
like to have answered, or a topic that you'd like

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00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:39.039
me to cover in a future episode, head over to

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Tuesday with Tom dot com. There you can leave a

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voice message by clicking on the microphone, or you can

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always send me an email that would be Tom at

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Tuesday with Tom. Please be sure to follow us on

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Facebook invite your family and friends to do the same.

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That again is Tuesday with Tom and the Office is

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can always ask your smart speaker to play Tuesday with Tom. Well,

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thanks again for spending part of your day with us,

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and as always, stay safe, have an awesome week in Michigan.

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Tuesday with Tom has been brought to you by the

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