How I Made $2K After Getting Scammed in Real Estate

We really thought we were done. Like, I would just chalk it up to a lesson, you know, lesson learned. We lost out on money. This sucks. But like 3 or 4 days ago, we got a call from, I think it was the title company in Vegas saying, hey, we see that there's a cloud on title to this property and says you guys have filed an affidavit memorandum and you've clouded the title. You guys need to release this. So because we're selling this and we said, now hold on, we have the rights to buy it. Like, what's going on? What had happened is the property didn't have to go through probate. It was in a trust. And when the man that died, when he died, he left the property to his family. His brothers and sisters, and they were trying to sell it. So we said, hey guys, like, we got scammed by his wife. She basically sent her money and we need, you know, we're not gonna release this until we can be made whole. So they're like, okay, what do you want? And we're like, release it for $4,500. And they said, okay, done. So they sent us a check for $4,500. We released the notice of interest that, you know, we got paid. So we made $2,000 off of, you know, filing the right paperwork and protecting our interest in the properties. What's going on, Investor Tribe Nation? It's Nathan Payne here, and I'm coming to you with a video about how we just got scammed in our company and how to protect yourself so this doesn't happen to you. Now look, I've been in the business for a while. I shouldn't have gotten scammed. I should have done a little bit more due diligence in my company, but it happened. But because we are— we know how to protect ourselves in deals, we, uh, we actually made money off of getting scammed, which is crazy. So stay tuned, I'll show you you how we did it, how we protected ourselves by filing an affidavit of memorandum, notice of interest, whatever you want to call it, and clouding the seller's title that told us that they were going to sell us the property. So, and they actually signed. So stay tuned, I'll show you how to do it in this video, show you the paperwork and everything that you need to fill out. So please like, subscribe, hit the bell icon, and I'll show you how I was able to make money off of getting scammed. Everybody, thanks for tuning in, and you know, stay tuned to the end of the video that I'm making right now because I'm actually going to show you and walk you through through how to file an affidavit of memorandum or to cloud someone's title online. It's super easy. So stay tuned for that. But let me kind of tell you how we got scammed, but how we're able to make money off of getting scammed because we knew the right paperwork to file. So this is, this is in a nutshell what happened. I was sitting at my desk and my acquisitions guy Jake just, he got a lead from Vegas and he locked it up on that same call. I think, you know, he talked to the seller and they were able to negotiate a great deal.

And we were all stoked because we're like, yo, this is such a good deal.

And we're planning on buying it ourselves and flipping it in Vegas. And but what had happened is the seller was like, hey, I really need some money up front. You know, it's the holidays and I'm kind of broke. And her situation is her husband died and the property was in a trust and she had the same last name. Everything checked out as her husband did pass away. And we said, look, we can't give you money right now. We have to send us the title and see if you can even sell this thing. So we sent it to title and they were like, you know, this needs to go through probate. This needs to— you need to talk to an attorney. So the title gave her two options of attorneys to call. And we— when we talked to her, she's like, we called her later after all this and she's like, yeah, I'm working with one of the attorneys they gave us. So we're like, okay, cool. And we knew this was such a good deal and we didn't want to lose this out to her, you know, maybe talking to another seller. So We filed an affidavit of memorandum or notice of interest to cloud the title. So if she did try to sell it to another seller, we would, you know, we had the rights to buy it. So that's the first thing we did because we wanted to protect the deal. And we're lucky we did that because that's what ended up saving us in the end. So if you don't know how to file those, those documents and get them notarized, I'm going to show you. And that's what you need to do. But fast forward, what ended up happening is, you know, she called us again and said, hey, I really need some money. And we said, are you going through probate already? And she's like, yes, I'm already working with an attorney. We said, okay, before we send you any money, let's talk, we would like to talk to your attorney to make sure it's going good. She gave us, sent us the number, she told us the name of the attorney, and we just assumed, you know, without checking the law firm or anything that this was, you know, without diving deeper and calling the law firm, that she was giving us the right person. She gave us the name of an attorney out there, so we saw him, we're like, okay, he seems legit. So we called him, someone, you know, someone allegedly that was him, answered, we talked, everything seemed above board, and she wanted $5,000 upfront to help with groceries, to help with things from for the holidays. So we said, hey, we'll split up into two payments. We'll give you $2,500 now and maybe, you know, $2,500 another week. Hopefully probate will be done so we don't have to, you know, give it to you all upfront. She said, okay. We sent her the money and then 2 or 3 days later we tried to reach her. Nothing. We weren't able to get a hold of her and we were like, oh, What the heck? So we actually, at that time, we were starting to feel like maybe something funky was happening. We looked up, we actually called the law firm for the person that she gave us, and he's like, no, that's not me. I never talked to you guys. So we're like, dang. And we skip traced the number that she gave us, and it was a guy named Carlos. It was just some one of her freaking friends. So we were like, dang, we're never going to see that $2,500 again. And our acquisition guy started making calls saying, you know, to, I think, the police and saying, hey, we got scammed. And they said, hey, you got to fill out paperwork and whatever. So we really thought we were done, like, oh, just chalk it up to a lesson, you know, lesson learned. We lost out on money. This sucks. But like 3 or 4 days ago, we got a call from— I think it was the title company in Vegas saying, hey, we see that there's a cloud on title to this property and says you guys have filed an affidavit memorandum and you've clouded the title. You guys need to release this. So because we're selling this and we said, now hold on, we have the rights to buy it. Like, what's going on? And What had happened is the property didn't have to go through probate. It was in a trust. And when the man that died, when he died, he left the property to his family, his brothers and sisters, and they were trying to sell it. So we said, hey guys, like, we got scammed by his wife. She, she, you know, she basically sent her money and we need, you know, we're not going to release this until we can be made whole. So they're like, okay, what do you want? And we're like, We'll release it for $4,500. And they said, okay, done. So they sent us a check for $4,500. We released the notice of interest and that, you know, we got paid. So we made $2,000 off of, you know, filing the right paperwork and protecting our interest in the property. So this is a super weird situation. Don't do what I did and just send the seller money if they say, hey, they're going through probate or they talked to my attorney, actually call the law firm to verify that information. But luckily, because the way we, you know, filed that affidavit memorandum and know how to do it, we were able to protect our deal. Now, if you're a brand new wholesaler, do not file an affidavit memorandum or cloudstone title if you don't know if you have a deal. We knew we had a deal. We were willing to buy it no matter what, whether we could wholesale or not, we were going to close on it. So if you're going to do that, if you're going to file an affidavit, make sure you have a deal. And, you know, definitely do this. I would say I recommend do this on deals because we've had sellers try to back out of contracts. We've had them you know, try to sell to other people. And because we've had the— we filed a notice of interest, we've been able to protect our deals. And it happens a lot. So just make sure you know how to do it and stay tuned. I'm going to show you on a screen share right now how to do it, the documents you have to fill out, and, you know, the website that we use called deeds.com to do it. So hopefully in a nutshell that you guys were able to understand what happened and how we got scammed, but how filing the right paperwork was actually able enabled us to make money. So don't get scammed. If someone's asking for money, do some more due diligence. Don't just send it to them. And luckily we made money and we're, you know, it worked out for us. But hey guys, thanks for tuning in and look at this next video that I'm about to break down. And thanks for watching. So let's hop into this other video.

What's up everyone, this is Nathan Payne and I'm going to show you really quick our process of how we cloud somebody's title. By filing an affidavit of memorandum, memorandum of contract, notice of interest. They're all the same thing. But basically what it does is it protects your interest to buy the property by you working, you agreeing with the seller, and both parties signing that you're going to buy the house. And this basically protects you from them selling it from behind your back or them backing out. And, you know, I'm going to show you step by step how we do it. And this is actually the contract right here that we filed, the to protect our interest in the property. And so, I mean, it works. So right here, the first thing you want to do is fill out the date on the contract, the date that you signed the original agreement with the seller. Okay, you cannot file an affidavit of memorandum or cloud someone's title if you don't have a signed contract. So you do the date that you signed, it's between the seller that signed it and your LLC, or you, or your company, and And then you reference the address of the property right here. And you also, you more specific, as it says, you reference the legal description in Exhibit A of the property. So when they record it, they know exactly what property. If they can't find it for some reason in the county through the address, they can find it through a legal description. The rest of it is just all legal stuff. Nothing you have to fill out. And once you fill out this information, you can either do on the computer and print it out, or you can just write it by hand. You have to take this document to, uh, to get notarized. So we go get ours notarized by— there's a notary in our office that comes in here, and we sign it in front of him. He records the state— we're in Utah— the county we're in, the date that we signed it, that the name of, uh, you know, who signed it and, um, you know, what we produced as evidence that we are who we say we are, and it's usually our driver's license. And then the notary stamps it, records it, signs his name, his name, his, his, prints his name and the commission, you know, because I think you have to qualify to be a notary or, uh, be licensed to do it. So they put when their commission expires. So they fill all that information out, and then you also have to get the legal description So like I said, when the county records this, they can reference it. So when I first did this, I was like, dang, where'd I find the legal description? That was like kind of the holdup for me. Super easy. I'm going to show you guys. And this is how we got this legal description is we went to PropStream, we typed in the address of the property that we clouded. You put it in here and you go to details. So hold on, let me make this a little smaller so I can get it. So you go to details, and as you can see, because we clouded it, we— I don't know how this happened, but we actually went on title. It was— I've never seen that happen, but it worked. You go to documents, you scroll down to property details, you press view, and then PropStream, basically, uh, you click it, it'll download the property details PDF, and then on the last— usually appears on the last page they give you in the PDF. No, not the last page, I'm sorry. It appears under legal description. So all we did is we copy and pasted this, put it in the form, and, you know, got it notarized. So that's, that's the first step, like a couple of the first steps. So let's run through that really quick again. You type, you put the date that you signed the original agreement with the seller, their name, the who signed it, the address, and the property description where you can get from PropStream. And I have a link below. If you don't have PropStream, you need to get it because we use it all the time. I'll add that below, or you can just reach out to me. I'll give you my PropStream link. You get like 7 free days and they actually give me a kickback if anyone signs up using my link. So if you, You know, want to hook me up, use my PropStream link. So after you fill all that, you have to go get it signed by a notary, okay? And now you have to either mail it to the county, um, after it's been signed and notarized, and so they can record it. And they usually— before you go mailing it, you have to— you should call the county, uh, of where the property is, and you should ask them, hey, how much does this cost? Usually it costs like $10 or $15, but I found a way easier way to do it. That saves me so much time than having to mail it and call the county. It's a website called deeds.com, okay? You sign up for deeds.com and I'll show you exactly where to go. So on deeds.com, you go to e-recording, you click on e-recording, and what it does is it allows you to record, um, an affidavit of memorandum, in the specific county that you want. So view place e-recording orders. So you go here. So as you can see, we've clouded a couple different, uh, titles because a lot of sellers, they either try to back out or we just want to protect our interest because we, we have a deal and we don't want them selling to someone else. So sorry about that. So what you do is you type in, let's say, clouded or just say Las Vegas.

And you are—

we already have one right here. So you put Las Vegas, the state it's in, so Nevada, and the county. I think it was— I can't remember the county, maybe Clarkston. But we can just go here. So you click here. Once you start the new package, it'll just basically take you to your package name. And then all you got to do is scan it. It tells you exactly what to do. You scan with Adobe— download the app Adobe Scan, scan it, upload it here, submit it. And then what these guys do— these guys are great at deeds.com— they'll tell you, they'll communicate with you through here and your email telling you, um, like what's going on. So this might have been the first time new package started, new document uploaded. Please add cover page. So they tell you what you need, and then you just follow the process, and then it gets done. So that is how we got it done, guys. And I'll do a quick review one more time just so everyone gets it. But that's how we were able to protect our interest in this property instead of losing money. Like I've told you in the video, you— we made money by protecting our interest in the property. So you fill out the information on the memorandum of contract, um, date that you signed, seller's name, address, um, and get it recorded. Make sure you go to PropStream to get the legal description. Um, go— then go to deeds.com to file it, and they'll do it for you if they do that county. They pretty much do every county in the United States. That we've only—

they've only said they haven't been able to do like one or two of ours.

And then after you do that you're solid. You got— obviously you got to pay these guys. It cost us $61 to do that. Um, but after we did that, we were, you know, slept a little bit better. Now we have filed affidavits of memorandum, or we have done notice of interest, wherever you want to call it, and it hasn't worked. Um, sometimes if you haven't put down earnest money at the title company, it won't count. So make sure you're not just doing these just because you, you feel like it's a good idea. Do these if you got a solid deal that you're willing to battle, go to battle over. We did one in, um, I think it was, uh, Hut— where was it in Alabama? It was in, um, Denton, Alabama, I think. And we filed an affidavit of memorandum. Someone bought it anyway, and we are basically kind of fighting with them because it was a great deal and we wanted it and we were willing to, you know, buy it. But still, like, nothing has happened. We haven't gotten paid out, and it's been almost 6 months. But we're just holding on because, you know, we had all the rights to buy it. So anyway, hope all that information was helpful. This is literally step by step how we do it and how you can do it and how you can protect your interests and your rights to buy property that you've agreed with the seller. Don't get pushed around. You made a legally binding agreement with the seller. You're going to buy their house and you need to protect your rights to do so. So anyway, hope, hope that was helpful. Thanks for watching the video, guys, and we'll talk to you later. Mm-hmm.