Serial Number and Hud Number

[Jill]

I have a Serial Number and Hud Number of the house that was suppose to be sold to us but was never delivered. We still have not gotten our $4,000 down payment back and all our calls are being ignored. Is there anyone or anyway we can have these numbers looked up to see if she even has the right to sell this home or to see if she has already sold the hme? We don't know what else to do. Thanks for any help. Here is the description of the house:

DESCRIPTION; 2000 SOUTHERN LIFE STYLE 11, INC.
MODEL SOUTHERN LIMITED 28 X 68
SN# DHSAL22447 A & B
HUD# NTA0427117 & 118
Jill

[rmurray]

Yes...Depending on which state you are in...

You could check the title is there is one...find the owners name and lenders name..once you have lenders name...call the lender and ask them details...

I might call the police or sherriff in your area if she continues to avoid you...Stealing 4K is not legal..

[Jill]

Where would we go to get the title info.? I'm not sure what county she filed for the title in, if she even bought the house to begin with. I know she said it would have to be sent in to Austin and our finance office has never received a copy of the title from her either.

[Sandy]

I just want to start out saying that I'm a title clerk with a bank here in WV. I know you won't want to here this, but I can tell you with all honesty that you'll be lucky to get any information if you attempt to call a financial institution or a motor vehicle department in your state in regard to those titles. There is a privacy act law, and banks and motor vehicle departments just can't and won't give information out to anyone who wants it. Especially if you're name isn't on a loan with the lienholder or on the title with the department of motor vehicles. The best recommendation I can give you is get an attorney, and file a complaint with your local BBB. I sure hope you have signed papers and proper documentation; otherwise, it's going to be your word against her's. Good luck.

[rmurray]

Title information is usually public record and available from the STATE agency who handles titles..

I know you are in the SE somewhere...but which state...maybe I can help you find the proceedure..I am familier with FL, GA and SC..all tree have different proceedures for title information....

You might check with the agency that titles autos and ask them for assistance...Most titles can be searched by seriel number...

There are other things you can do...You could call Southern Energy Homes...give them the seriel number and they can tell you which dealer sold the home...They also will have the original owners name..if you can get it..If the dealer was still in business you could ask them for info...tell them what happened..They could tell you which lender originally financed the home and the owners name..That lender can tell you if they have repossessed the home and what is happening with it....

The other poster is correct about the privacy act...but..titles are public documents...sales to dealers are commercial transactions not covered by the law..local dealers will help you just for the future pr...if the lender has already repossessed the home they will be interested in selling it and freely offer info about the home...

Little of this will help you get your money back..just get you info on the home...I still think talking to a local prosecutor might be in order..If your research finds that the home is not ready to be sold..or is sold to someone else....the broker is involved with fraud..

One other thing..you mentioned Austin, TX as a "home office"...From your converstions did you get the impression this was the lender office...broker office..or what...There might be a way to hunt up the number of this office...

[Jill]

Sandy,

We have completed all our paperwork for the Loan and they are just waiting for the title also. They have a copy of the down payment cashier check and everything was finalized and just waiting on the title before they would release the money to her. We have excellent credit and have no problems there. The Loan company said they would back us in any way they could to get our money back since it was not us backing out of the deal. She just sold us something she didn't have the rights too or sold it to someone else. I did get a call last night from her stating that if we sent her a request in writing for our money back that she would give it to us. Last week when she was suppose to meet us and didn't show up or call she said NOTHING about this letter! We are scared to write anything because we don't want it to be like we backed out of this because it was HER that didn't produce the doublewide that we were financing! Everything was and is still on go except for her. We had even purchased the years worth of insurance on this house and was waiting for delivery. It has been 5 weeks and 1 day that she has had our down payment and we've received NOTHING. This house was suppose to be delivered a few days after she got the down payment. She has avoided our calls, and to be honest, we think she has spent the money and doesn't even have it to give us back at this time! We didn't want to be ugly and go straight to the sherriff but that is the only thing that we know left to do. I hope to get a call from her this morning and if not, I will leave her a message that she has until noon Thursday to get us the money or we will go turn her in for fraud/deception/larson.........whatever it is that she has done because it isn't right for her to get away with doing this.

[Jill]

I live in Texas and the lady that sold us this home lives in Texas also. She just said that she had to get the title transferred into her name for our Finance Office to finish the loan. She said she had to change the title to her name and that they would have to send her back the title in her name from Austin. I'm not sure if that is just where everything goes....or what because she lives in Tyler, Tx. and Austin is not that close!

[rmurray]

Austin would be where the state agency that issues titles is..

I found a web site in your state that has everything you need..

The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs...

They 1) issue the ...2) license the brokers and dealers...3) regulate the dealers and brokers...4)...and even have a recovery fund for those who have lost money because of deceptive practices....They have a tool free number on the web site..

Good Luck

http://www.tdhca.state.tx.us/mh.htm

[Sandy]

Thanks for the info Mr Murray. Checked out the TX website, and it gave a boat load of information on the manufactured home in question as I did it out of pure curiosity as to see how their system worked. Wish all states were a little more cooperative when trying to get information in regards to titles. With personal experience, I can tell you that OH..WV..and PA don't release any information freely if at all. If they do, many will charge fees and require forms/requests to be mailed in and nothing is usually said over the phone. Then again, we've had some clerks in these offices "sneak" bits of information to help us out even though they are told not to release anything. You would think if the financial institution has a legal right and interest in the collateral by having their lien placed, it would be easier to obtain information. I'd say 95% of the time, it's not. Haven't dealt much with the SW. Our titles usually migrate out of WV, OH, some PA, very little VA, and very little MD. We'll occassionally get the stray from somewhere else, but it's very rare. As being a strictly regional bank, you'll have that. In can only imagine the mass confusion of a huge bank dealing with all the state or county agencies in the country. Mind boggling.

[Jill]

OH MY GOSH!!!!!! I just went to the site you sent me and that lady lied to us so bad!! She was selling that doublewide as a 28 x 68 box.....said it was a 72 ft. with hitch! She LIED!! That is NOT the sq. ft. that we wanted!! 28 x 64! SHE KNOWS SHE WAS IN THE WRONG AND THAT IS WHY SHE DIDN'T DO THE DEAL!! Not to mention her name is NO WHERE on that page and that is NOT her house to even sell! It isn't even the YEAR MODEL that she told us! I am FUMING at that point and I am ready to press charges if she doesn't give us back our money TODAY! Thanks so much for ALL ya'lls help! That site is VERY HANDY and will serve as a good piece of evidence against this CROOKED LADY! Boy has she had it now!!

THANKS!!!