Van Braun

Request: At least read the first two paragraphs. Thanks! We recently sold our house in Durand. The day it went on the market we had multiple offers, all higher than our asking price. But the real story is the preceding year and a half. I'm going to get to the point -- this is a big, fat shout out to Van Braun - American Associates Realtors. If you want to sell your house in Durand, Swartz Creek, Fenton, Grand Blanc or anywhere else in the vicinity, he is the guy I'm recommending. And it's not just a "Oh yeah, we were happy with him..." I want you to hear me and see me shouting it from the rooftops. This guy deserves all the accolades. He is a freaking hero to me and that's a fact, and I cannot overstate my appreciation of him and the work he did for us. We learned in July of 2022, when we initially planned to list the house, that we were missing a document that was necessary in order to be able to put the house on the market. We didn't have the document, I had never even heard of it, and in order to get it, we had to have our title, which, for some reason, in all of the paperwork we had for the house, we could not find. The title company said they couldn't help us unless we provided a different document, which of course we also didn't have. We were just stuck and no one could give us any answers, and being out of state made things infinitely more complicated. So, for more than a year, we were paying for two houses as best we could, all the while, not even sure if there would be a light at the end of the tunnel. We didn't know what to do. Van and I got connected via different business avenues. He became an advertiser on Durand Now and Shiawassee Radio. He had been on for at least a few months when finally I decided to ask him if he had any ideas for our situation. Here's the thing. The really, really important thing. He didn't have the answer. But he decided to help us find it. He didn't just say "I can't help." He went looking. If we needed the document, then so did the people who sold us the house. And that document should have been submitted to the appropriate government agencies. Van reached out to the state and county agencies and discovered there was no record of that document for any of the previous owners at the county. But he discovered that the home's original owner applied for and received the approved document from the state, but never filed it with the county; a necessary detail. So, effectively, the document didn't exist. We also learned that when one applies for and is approved for the document, that document effectively replaces the home's title. Can you guess why we couldn't find our title? Because we never had one to begin with! When we purchased the home, we unknowingly got caught up in a gigantic decades-old paperwork mess. And we never knew it until we tried to sell the house. Okay, so now that we know the problem, just apply for the document, right? Correct! Except that the document requires a serial number that would normally be included in other paperwork, or affixed to the home's exterior or in the crawl space. We looked through every piece of paperwork related to the house and none of them listed the serial number. Any document that had been filled out, the serial number field was just left blank. So, on a visit to town, we searched throughout the house for the serial number and, of course, couldn't find it. My mom did another sweep, as moms do, to see if maybe we had just missed it. No luck. So Van decided to look for it. All around the house, under the house, he also couldn't find it. Now what? As far as I was concerned, we were stuck again. But Van got us answers. He located an out-of-state company; Virginia, I think it was, that specializes in researching the history of homes and, specifically, locating missing serial numbers. There was a cost, but it was what we had to do. And thankfully, the company was successful in locating the serial number. We applied for the document: Affidavit of Affixture, were approved, and then... FILED IT with the County Register of Deeds. Finally, the house was legal and could be listed. I'll save you stories about the next several months of discoveries that delayed the closing process, but suffice it to say, Van Braun did so much more than he had to do, in order to get the deal done. All in all, it was a solid year and a half of worry for us, and no less than six months of work for Van. We closed just before Thanksgiving. And, for that, we remain very thankful. Talk to Van Braun at American Associates Realtors.