Posted by MasterCloser on 2/15/08 4:18pm
Msg #235516

What would you do? Owner occupied...NOT!

Hi Gang!

I am conducting a closing this evening at an address OTHER THAN the property address.
I won't know FOR SURE until I get there but it seems like they may not be COMPLETELY HONEST about this being an "owner occupied property". The word FRAUD comes to mind.

What have others done in this situation?

Reply by GA/Atty on 2/15/08 4:35pm
Msg #235520

In my opinion, when he signs the owner occupancy paperwork, he is telling you that he does occupy the encumbered property as a primary residence. I think it would take a LOT of very specific evidence for you to conclude with any certainty that he was engaging in fraud, regardless of whether the place of closing looks like a home or not.

Hard for me to imagine being able to tell with enough certainty to make an issue of it.

Reply by Les_CO on 2/15/08 4:35pm
Msg #235521

Well I’ve done signings at Dennys, Mc Donald’s, Starbucks, etc. I’m pretty sure the borrowers didn’t own them. Not your business. If the borrower swears to the owner occupancy affidavit. It’s entirely on them.

Reply by brengreen/ca on 2/15/08 4:41pm
Msg #235522

yes entirely on the borrower

we just acknowlege their signature

Reply by ZeeCA on 2/15/08 4:41pm
Msg #235523

use the orange search key... been discussed many times n/m

Reply by JaneCA on 2/16/08 4:33pm
Msg #235613

Remember that you are a notary there to verify their signatures. Whether they are telling the trught or not has NOTHING to do with you.

Reply by Ernest__CT on 2/18/08 3:20pm
Msg #235857

Well, there are several ways to look at it.

As others have said, it's not your call. You administer the oath, they swear, they sign. You're done. That's it for occupied / non-occupied.

If, on the other hand, someone wants to swear that, in New Your City the sun shines brightly at 1:30 AM, then you've got a legitimate problem. You know that they're lying under oath. In that kind of black-and-white situation, I'd remind them that they were under oath. If they still swore that the clearly-false statement was true, I'd refuse the notarization.

Remember, we're not detectives, we're Notaries Public.