Part of rebuilding New Orleans caused residents often to be challenged
with the task of tracing home titles back potentially hundreds of
years. With a community rich with history stretching back over two
centuries, houses have been passed along through generations of
family, sometimes making it quite difficult to establish ownership.
Here’s a great letter an attorney wrote to the FHA on behalf of a client:
You have to love this lawyer…
A New Orleans lawyer sought an FHA loan for a client. He was told the
loan would be granted if he could prove satisfactory title to a parcel
of property being offered as collateral. The title to the property
dated back to 1803, which took the lawyer three months to track down.
After sending the information to the FHA, he received the following reply:
(Actual reply from FHA):
“Upon review of your letter adjoining your client’s loan application,
we note the request is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we
compliment the able manner in which you have prepared and presented
the application, we must point out you have only cleared title to the
proposed collateral property back to 1803. Before final approval can
be accorded, it will be necessary to clear the title back to its origin.”
Annoyed, the lawyer responded as follows:
(Actual response): “Your letter regarding title in Case No.189156 has
been received. I note you wish to have title extended further than
the 206 years covered by the present application. I was unaware any
educated person in this country, particularly those working in the
property area, would not know Louisiana was purchased by the United
States from France in 1803, the year of origin identified in our
application. For the edification of uninformed FHA bureaucrats, the
title to the land prior to U.S. Ownership was obtained from France,
which had acquired it by Right of Conquest from Spain. The land came
into the possession of Spain by Right of Discovery made in the year
1492 by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus, who had been granted
the privilege of seeking a new route to India by the Spanish monarch,
Queen Isabella. The good Queen Isabella, being a pious woman and
almost as careful about titles as the FHA, took the precaution of
securing the blessing of the Pope before she sold her jewels to
finance Columbus’s expedition. Now the Pope, as I’m sure you may
know, is the emissary of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and God, it is
commonly accepted, created this world. Therefore, I believe it is
safe to presume God also made the part of the world called Louisiana.
God; therefore, would be the owner of origin and His origins date back
to before the beginning of time, the world as we know it, and the FHA.
I hope you find God’s original claim to be satisfactory. Now, may we
have our loan?”
The loan was immediately approved.
Homesbyjim Real Estate 