Crazy man, crazy.
A survey would have definitely cleared that up. But there are two parties that definitely have some culpability. The Title company who guaranteed the title and the seller that had to have known and didn't disclose it.
That's just downright evil, I think.
Seller was probably non-existent, being a foreclosure. The title company could be partially or entirely at fault. Not on purpose but certainly an oversight could have taken place.
"I think it was probably the title company because they knew, they only gave me a title to half the house"
The thing most people cannot understand is the legal description describes land, not a house. If it were that easy deeds would read "Jones conveys to Smith 123 Main Street."
"Bought it thinking it was the whole house because that is what was on the realtor's brochure."
This is why all realtors should recommend a survey! No just mention one, as an option, but truly recommend it.
Fannie Mae, say no more
[sarcasm]"You can not get a lien on undivided property"[/sarcasm]
I found half a house once on a survey project. Many years earlier an 80 acre tract had been cut into three pieces. Eventually one guy ended up owning all three. He was past 90 and in a nursing home about to kick the proverbial bucket. The vultures (concerned parties) hurried to sell his property while he was still able to sign the documents. More than six months later we get a call from the buyer to have us cut out the house and a few acres as all he really wanted was the farm ground to start with. While doing my research I discovered the deed and mortgage read something like: All of (Tract 1), all of (Tract 2) and
That lonely "and" was at the very bottom of the page. Somehow Tract 3 was missed and then absolutely no one involved with the transaction noticed this. I, of course, had to bring this to the attention of the client, especially because the house was partly on Tract 1 and partly on Tract 3 and he didn't have a deed to Tract 3. Fortunately, the old geezer was still breathing so a bunch of shame-faced people went through all the steps to get Tract 3 deeded and mortgaged as had been the intent.
That map looked like a GIS sheet from the Town. Are those good anywhere?
Did survey for guy a couple years ago . He had already bought the property and was wanting to build a fence . Property line ran right through middle of the house. Long story . But the adjoiner worked with guy and deeded him a lot to fix the situation. Bad deed copied forward for 50 years.
We resolved a bad subdivision in town. The surveyor cut out the lots on paper, the developer increased the density as there is a steep bank at the far end. The center of the cul de sac is a concrete bound sticking 2' in the air about 80' beyond the end of the constructed cul de sac. Several houses were straddling several lines.