Failure To Search Title Leads To F'closure For Homeowner Despite Making All Payments; Builder Failed To Pay Off Existing Lien In Owner-Financed Sale

In Weslaco, Texas, KRGV-TV Channel 5 reports:

• A sign of the future connected to pain of the past. Behind the plastic and metal of the auction sign is an experience too sad for Nelda Rodriguez to bear. "There I go again," said Rodriguez as she wiped her tears. This home was her dream. It was her escape from violence. "It's just one thing after another after another," said Rodriguez. Rodriguez said her ex husband abused her.
• She moved here to get away. A year later she gets this a notice. "The attorney to Compass Bank said this house is not mine," said Rodriguez. The notice said she didn't own the home and the true owner is in foreclosure. "I have my receipts and I was paying everything I was suppose to be paying," said Rodriguez. She called CHANNEL 5 NEWS for help. We investigated.
• We pulled records on the property and the home. Turns out, Compass Bank is right: Rodriguez doesn't own this home. She owner-financed it through a construction company. "I feel real bad. In a way, I feel dumb because I let this happen to me," said Rodriguez.
• Dunlyn Homes, L.L.C., the construction company, owned the house Rodriguez moved into. They had financed the building of the home through the bank. The bank claimed it had not been paid and demanded payment in full. Dunlyn Homes wasn't able to meet that obligation. The bank foreclosed on the house.
• We tracked down the man in charge of the company. Juan Noriega was president of the construction company at the time Rodriguez bought her house. Noriega agreed there was a lien on the home, but he claimed it was a mistake. He says the bank agreed to extend the loan and take his payments. He claims he made them.
• "Texas State Bank said don't worry about it. Just rent it or owner finance the houses, whatever you do as long as you take the payment. We'll worry about it in a couple of years," said Noriega over the phone.

For more, see Owner Financed Home Foreclosed.