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If you buy a home you can expect your new mailbox to fill up quickly with letters that look like government notices, but are in fact just ads trying to get you to buy a copy of a document that you probably don’t need.
The letters have titles like “recorded deed notice.”
After my recent move to Sacramento, I got one from a company that calls itself “Local Records Office.” That letter came with a “respond by” date in bold letters and asked for $89.
If you don’t read the letter carefully, you might think it’s urgent government business. It’s not.
While they’re widely regarded as a “scam” by many in the real estate industry, it’s important to note that these companies are not doing anything illegal. In fact, under California law these solicitors are required to print disclaimers telling you that they are not part of the government on the envelope and in every page of the solicitation inside.
The main thing the solicitors are selling is a copy of the deed to your house, or as one letter put it, “the only document that identifies you as a property owner.” You probably don't need a copy of your deed, but there's no law against selling you stuff you don't need.
If for some reason you do need a certified copy of your deed, you can get one for a whole lot less money at the actual local records office -- in this case, the Sacramento County Clerk and Recorder’s office.
“In our office it would range from $13 to $15 depending on how many pages are in that deed,” said Sacramento County Clerk and Recorder Donna Allred.
Allred says if you just want to make sure you have your deed for your own personal records, you don’t need to do anything at all. Sacramento County automatically mails new homeowners the original deed for no extra cost once the document is recorded. (Allow about a week for this.)
But the letters scare people into thinking there's a problem. Allred says her office gets questions and complaints about these letters daily. ABC10 found one company’s ad contained a falsehood as part of its sales pitch.
A company called "Property Profile" wrote a disclaimer explaining that the deed is available for a “nominal fee” from your county clerk, but falsely claimed, “however, you will have to go to the county recorder's office in person.”
“This is absolutely not true,” Allred said. “You can go online and follow the instructions. We have the application online.”
When ABC10 asked Property Profile how it justifies the false claim that you have to go in-person to get your deed, they wrote back "not all counties have all the methods available to Sacramento county homeowners” and promised “we will be changing our letter for future mailings."
The solicitors will point out that they sell more than just the deed, though the deed is the most prominent selling point in their ad letters. Most also bundle in a “profile” of your home which consists mainly of public information you should already have obtained in the home-buying process, such as tax information, a flood report, or a plat map.
Bottom line: These letters are good old-fashioned junk mail that appear to be more serious than they are. But if you're ever unsure, it's worth making a quick call to your county recorder's office. Find yours here.
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