Adventures in land ownership

[Treefarmer]

In 1996 I decided to buy some rural land in south-east Tennessee, for the purpose of homesteading and living healthy.
I wanted more than 5 acres, my own springs, and it had to be cheap; I only had $35,000 in lawful money and no desire to go into debt.

The price constraint ruled out farm land, existing buildings, and other improvements such as utilities.

I placed wanted ads in some small local papers and got quite a few responses.
I narrowed down the choices and started looking at the offers, even camping out over night on some land to get a feel for it and meet the neighbors.
After some searching I found the right plot of ground.

Because I was young, ignorant, and not at all fluent in the local language, I hired a lawyer to help me close the deal.
There was only one law office in the entire area, which only had one lawyer who was the owner.
He also dealt in real estate.

He already knew I wanted to buy land, because he was one of the respondents to my wanted ad. We found out that he did not have the land that I was looking for, but he offered his legal services, which I took him up on.
He explained to me that the paperwork had to be written up a certain way and told me horror stories of people who got screwed because their paperwork was not just right.

Other locals I met on my search for land told me that this lawyer/real estate seller was a no-good crook, and I should not trust him or buy land from him.
The people who told me this seemed no more confidence inspiring than that lawyer though, who had a calm and polite bearing.

After I had found the land I wanted to buy I went to his very small and modest looking law office in the tiny nearby town and hired him for the closing and the title work.
All I knew about "land purchase" at the time was from my parents who had bought "real estate" three times in the US of A, but always with a mortgage.

He drew up the following Real Estate Purchase Agreement for me to use.
See attachments.
Notice the mention of lawful money on the first page.

Continued below...

[Treefarmer]

There were 7 pages in he R.E. Purchase Agreement, the last of which had a small copy of a survey map, which I'm omitting here.

What really struck me as odd at the time was the fact that this incredibly lengthy document did not contain any of the words that I would have expected it to contain, i.e. buy and land, and perhaps own, owner, springs, water, etc.

I asked the lawyer about this and he said that the document contained the proper terms and this is why I really needed him to help me, because I did not know the proper wording.
I didn't know what else to do, so I went along with the proposed scheme.
I believe I got attorned, knowing what I know now.

Next, I'll post the deed documents that were recorded at the County Register of Deeds office.

[David Merrill]

What a wonderful start to an amazing thread!


Thank you Treefarmer.

[shikamaru]

If they can do title insurance, couldn't the just as easily conduct a title abstract?

Section 9 (b)(iii) with the affidavit makes me wonder too ...

[Treefarmer]

If they can do title insurance, couldn't the just as easily conduct a title abstract?

Section 9 (b)(iii) with the affidavit makes me wonder too ...

Yes, makes me wonder too.
I have no idea what that is all about.

[Michael Joseph]

Yes, makes me wonder too.
I have no idea what that is all about.

Upon inspection of that Agreement, it looks fairly standard to me. What say you Bigred?

[KnowLaw]

Adventures in land ownership

If they can do title insurance, couldn't the just as easily conduct a title abstract?

Section 9 (b)(iii) with the affidavit makes me wonder too ...

Precisely, shikamaru. Tree Farmer was correct in his evaluation of this deal: he got attorned (i.e. screwed)!

In fact the whole Section 9 (b) i, ii, and iii is a dead giveaway that this contract maintains the statutory status of the contract. Title insurance is only recommended in such contracts in lieu of an abstract of title. Whenever you agree to such a contractual stipulation, you operate within the statutory realm.

Also, the fact that a Warranty Deed was issued is also a dead giveaway as this is only evidence of "title under color of law," but not yet title in fact. If you can trace the land back to a land patent, you're in much better shape with regard to being able to claim an "allodial" nature of ownership. Better yet would have been to obtain a Grant Deed from the seller, forego the involvement of the attorney, and not record that instrument with any statutory authority (i.e. the county or the state) but only "notice" them (i.e. the county assessor) of the change in ownership as recordation is now seen as "registration" of property with the statutory authority. When you record a deed these days you've just entered into a contract with the county and the state, which operates as a "kind of" parens patriae in commerce to maintain the commercial viability of the property within their "legal" system of governance. You are, however, under no obligation to avail yourself of the state's services in matters such as this, is my understanding of the matter.

There are ways to correct this. When I have more free time (months away at this point, as I am buried in work that takes priority over any project that would entail a detailed explanation of law in matters such as this) I will return with my findings based on my practical experience and open a thread to explain what I have learned and accomplished and how others can go about following suit. I have recently taken the property I own out of the statutory realm and provided notice of such to the appropriate county officials.

This is not that difficult to understand or to accomplish once you have access to a reading of the law that you can rely upon as an ultimate authority. I've spent the better part of the last two years studying this and have all the legal citations (or at least a great many of them) to back it up.

[shikamaru]

The warranty deed appears to make the seller the underwriter for the title of the land if title is determined to be bad by a court ....

Registration is necessary for purposes of taxation and I suspect bond-writing by the (municipal) corporation.

[Michael Joseph]

The warranty deed appears to make the seller the underwriter for the title of the land if title is determined to be bad by a court ....

Registration is necessary for purposes of taxation and I suspect bond-writing by the (municipal) corporation.

The Warranty Deed does not appear to - the Warranty Deed does exactly that. And In FACT, the GENERAL WARRANTY DEED is for all time past and present.

If you are gonna play with DEEDS - you need to make yourself familiar with - a BARGAIN AND SALE DEED.

Look it up for yourself - you will be glad you did!

[shikamaru]

The Warranty Deed does not appear to - the Warranty Deed does exactly that. And In FACT, the GENERAL WARRANTY DEED is for all time past and present.

If you are gonna play with DEEDS - you need to make yourself familiar with - a BARGAIN AND SALE DEED.

Look it up for yourself - you will be glad you did!

I am most partial to quitclaim deeds myself .

[Michael Joseph]

I most partial to quitclaim deeds myself .

yes that one is very good. I got a bridge ON the territory California to sell to you - will you accept a "quit-claim" deed? I would not take a "quit-claim" deed unless I really trusted the one who caused the equity transfer was lawfully with a simple FEE.

[Treefarmer]

Precisely, shikamaru. Tree Farmer was correct in his evaluation of this deal: he got attorned (i.e. screwed)!

In fact the whole Section 9 (b) i, ii, and iii is a dead giveaway that this contract maintains the statutory status of the contract. Title insurance is only recommended in such contracts in lieu of an abstract of title. Whenever you agree to such a contractual stipulation, you operate within the statutory realm.

Also, the fact that a Warranty Deed was issued is also a dead giveaway as this is only evidence of "title under color of law," but not yet title in fact. If you can trace the land back to a land patent, you're in much better shape with regard to being able to claim an "allodial" nature of ownership. Better yet would have been to obtain a Grant Deed from the seller, forego the involvement of the attorney, and not record that instrument with any statutory authority (i.e. the county or the state) but only "notice" them (i.e. the county assessor) of the change in ownership as recordation is now seen as "registration" of property with the statutory authority. When you record a deed these days you've just entered into a contract with the county and the state, which operates as a "kind of" parens patriae in commerce to maintain the commercial viability of the property within their "legal" system of governance. You are, however, under no obligation to avail yourself of the state's services in matters such as this, is my understanding of the matter.

There are ways to correct this. When I have more free time (months away at this point, as I am buried in work that takes priority over any project that would entail a detailed explanation of law in matters such as this) I will return with my findings based on my practical experience and open a thread to explain what I have learned and accomplished and how others can go about following suit. I have recently taken the property I own out of the statutory realm and provided notice of such to the appropriate county officials.

This is not that difficult to understand or to accomplish once you have access to a reading of the law that you can rely upon as an ultimate authority. I've spent the better part of the last two years studying this and have all the legal citations (or at least a great many of them) to back it up.

How about giving us some leads in the meantime?
I like to read up on things myself.
Thank you.

[Treefarmer]

Continuing:
After I got the Real Estate Purchase Agreement document from the lawyer, I met with the seller of the property, or land, at his kitchen table and I gave him a cashiers' check for $30,000 and $5,000 in cash.
He signed the paperwork and we shook hands and that sealed the deal.

Then I took that signed Purchase Agreement to the lawyer to "draw up the paper work".
He also recommended that I "purchase" title insurance, which he also sold, and I agreed to that too.

Then the lawyer asked me about the purchase price and I, feeling put on the spot and confused about it, said $25,000. Since I didn't know what I was doing, that seemed like a good compromise at the time.
Something didn't sit right with me about that though, because the purchase agreement didn't name the price, and I felt like that was none of the lawyer's business.
He tricked me into disclosing a sum though by having a blank space on the deed for the purchase price, so I thought it had to be provided.
In hindsight, I did not have to disclose that private deal at all!
I have since noticed that most recorded deeds say nothing about how much the land was sold for.
Attorned again!

A few days later I went by the lawyer's office and picked up the completed WARRANTY DEED and paid him for it.
The document was stapled to a blue piece of heavy paper, the exact same color which Motla68 showed on his picture of his private agreement, which he called Robin egg blue. Not sure I've ever seen a robin egg, and I noticed that Motla68 may be banned now, but it makes me wonder about the symbolism of it. Does anyone know about this?
The lawyer said I needed to record the Warranty Deed at the County Court House.
When I went there, I was surprised that I had to pay a hefty "transfer tax" which was a percentage of the purchase price.
I knew I was getting screwed, only I didn't know what to do about it.

I felt like I didn't have a choice and paid up.

I've attached the sanitized Warranty Deed.

[Treefarmer]

[Treefarmer]

I'm noticing that the quality of the attachments is really bad.
Anybody have any ideas how I can get it to look better?