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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

~ A New Orleans Lawyer ~

by Tina~in_ut

Tis far better to laugh than to cry, and this one serves us well.
 
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.

7 comments:

Just_Lin said...

Tina Ha! Very good! Sometimes bureaucrats can be so damn bureaucratic.

Mary/MI said...

Some how the American Indians got left out of that mess lol!

9 days to Palm Spring :)
I will meet Beverly's hunny. He sounds like fun! They will be picking me up and dropping me off at the Airport. How lucky am I! They are renting a Mustang convertible...COOL!

My son has my karaoke computer's innards scattered all over my kitchen table! He is rebuilding it with new parts. I sure hope he remembers where it all goes lol!!!
Later.....

Just_Lin said...

Mary The American Indians got left out of a lot of stuff. :(

sacBarb said...

Interesting blog and Mary, I was thinking the same thing. My hubby was born on an Indian Reservation in OK. His father was 1/2 Seneca, so that makes my kids 1/8 Seneca and 1/2 Italian. My Hubby called them Wop-ahoes. ;)

Waving to J/L and the other Owls.

Dianne, I'll try to post while we are away so you won't be alone. :)

Dianne/Denver said...

Thank you Barb. It would be sad just to see myself on the blog.

Busy day today went to dr for two hours, had lunch with a friend, went to work late, worked on tax stuff, took granddaughter to dinner and came home at 9. I'm pooped. My GD figured out some things about my car for me.

I liked the blog. I worked with FHA my whole career so I can relate.

Wish I was going with all of you on your adventure. I predict you're going to have a lot of fun.

Just_Lin said...

SacBarb LOL @ Wopahoes!!

Just_Lin said...

Dianne I think you're right and we will have a fun time. Wish you could join us.