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 Jack his client:
A New Orleans lawyer sought an FHA loan for Jack. 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 letter):
"Upon review of your letter adjoining your client's loan application,
we note that 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 that 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:
(here's the actual letter):
"Your letter regarding title in Case No. 189156 has been received. I
note that you wish to have title extended further than the 194 years
covered by the present application. I was unaware that any educated
person in this country, particularly those working in the property
area, would not know that Louisiana was purchased, by the U.S. 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, 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' 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 that God also made that 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 damn loan?"
Jack's loan was approved
