{"id":63643,"date":"2026-07-25T03:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T01:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/housesmarketplace.com\/deed-theft-remains-a-growing-threat-for-seniors-black-homeowners\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T03:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T01:00:16","slug":"deed-theft-remains-a-growing-threat-for-seniors-black-homeowners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/housesmarketplace.com\/ru\/deed-theft-remains-a-growing-threat-for-seniors-black-homeowners\/","title":{"rendered":"Deed theft remains a growing threat for seniors, Black homeowners"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

For generations, real estate has been the primary vehicle for building intergenerational wealth in America.<\/p>\n

But for \u043f\u043e\u0436\u0438\u043b\u044b\u0435 \u043b\u044e\u0434\u0438<\/a> and Black homeowners, that vehicle has also made them a target, says Scott Kohanowski, general counsel at the Center for NYC Neighborhoods<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

New York City recently established a Deed Theft Prevention Office, building on longstanding community-based efforts like the Homeowner Protection Program that help residents identify, prevent and respond to deed theft<\/a> before they lose their homes.<\/p>\n

Kohanowski sat down with \u0416\u0438\u043b\u044c\u0435\u041f\u0440\u043e\u0432\u043e\u043b\u043e\u043a\u0430 <\/strong>to explain why deed theft disproportionately targets older adults and Black homeowners<\/a>, the red flags homeowners should watch for and what other cities can learn from New York\u2019s approach.<\/p>\n

\u041f\u0440\u0438\u043c\u0435\u0447\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0435 \u0440\u0435\u0434\u0430\u043a\u0442\u043e\u0440\u0430: \u0434\u0430\u043d\u043d\u043e\u0435 \u0438\u043d\u0442\u0435\u0440\u0432\u044c\u044e \u0431\u044b\u043b\u043e \u043e\u0442\u0440\u0435\u0434\u0430\u043a\u0442\u0438\u0440\u043e\u0432\u0430\u043d\u043e \u0434\u043b\u044f \u0431\u043e\u043b\u044c\u0448\u0435\u0439 \u043a\u0440\u0430\u0442\u043a\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438 \u0438 \u044f\u0441\u043d\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438.<\/em><\/p>\n

Jonathan Delozier: Is deed theft getting worse<\/strong> <\/strong>or is public awareness finally catching up to the full extent of<\/strong> the problem<\/strong>?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott Kohanowski:<\/strong> I think this has always existed, and I think real estate empires have been built on deed theft, scam and predation that\u2019s been targeting distressed communities, especially. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s increasing, but I think we\u2019re probably noticing it a lot more because there\u2019s been so much attention brought to it. Also, especially in a place like New York, we have a lot [of] public resources and a lot [of] support from the state attorney general\u2019s office. Because there are a lot resources, there are a lot of people working in this area, and they\u2019re identifying the scams that are happening and generally raising that awareness.<\/p>\n

Delozier: Your work has shown that older adults and Black homeowners are disproportionately targeted. What makes those demographics particularly vulnerable and what systemic factors allow these scams to keep happening?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kohanowski:<\/strong>\u00a0Well, generally, for seniors, it\u2019s diminishing capacity, and it\u2019s also that there\u2019s so much wealth that a lot of the seniors are sitting on, especially in a place like New York City, where we have through-the-roof market values. Seniors are generally seen as an easy target, especially if they don\u2019t have the resources or they don\u2019t have somebody who\u2019s helping them manage their affairs. As they get older, it just becomes harder and harder to keep on top of things and know who to trust.<\/p>\n

For historically Black communities, Black Americans, Black homeowners and new Americans, immigrants \u2014 a lot of those demographics don\u2019t have access to information and legal resources and the things that help folks protect their homes and protect their assets. You can trace a direct line back to post-Civil War Reconstruction, then Jim Crow, then the Great Migration north, and then before the Fair Housing Act, we had these discriminatory lending laws and ownership laws and restrictive covenants that disproportionately affected African Americans and excluded them from a lot of the protections that we now have.<\/p>\n

Those families or individuals who were able to acquire properties at that time had artificially depressed property values because of these restrictive covenants and redlining practices. But then once we had the Fair Housing Act, a lot of these areas that were historically artificially depressed in value \u2014 in places like New York \u2014 those areas have rapidly gentrified. It\u2019s not uncommon to have a Harlem brownstone that\u2019s now worth $5 million and there may not be any mortgage on that property at all because a great grandmother wasn\u2019t able to get a mortgage. Fast forward 30 or 40 years, and you have a very high value property with a ton of equity.\u00a0A lot of the scammers and predators see that as an opportunity to mine wealth out of those communities and to strip that equity and appropriate that equity.<\/p>\n

Delozier: For real estate agents and title agents who are often the last line of defense before property changes hands, what are some under-the-radar warning signs they should be looking out for?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kohanowski:<\/strong>\u00a0For that side of the industry, it\u2019s making sure that they\u2019re not rubber stamping a lot of these sketchy transactions. You\u2019ll see it where you\u2019ll be in a closing room and you have what we call \u201cpotted plant lawyers\u201d \u2014 the ones that are supposedly representing the victim but they\u2019re really in cahoots with the perpetrators. You see that with the foreclosure rescue scams all over the place.<\/p>\n

Even the title companies and the real estate agents \u2014 if they\u2019re not communicating directly with the principal, the main person, the homeowner or the home purchaser \u2014 they should double verify everything because you see deeds being forged. You see the foreclosure rescue scams where people are being told one thing, a bait and switch type thing, and they\u2019re being told to sign documents that they don\u2019t understand.\u00a0Just make sure that whoever is giving up their rights or selling something or signing something actually knows what it is that they\u2019re signing.<\/p>\n

Delozier: With the New York City Deed Theft Prevention Office and the Homeowner Protection Program, what elements have been most effective and what could realistically be replicated in other states or areas?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kohanowski:<\/strong>\u00a0New York and New York City have developed, over time, some robust protections for homeowners \u2014 not just in terms of foreclosure or inherited property \u2014 but what we\u2019re talking about right now with deed theft and real property fraud and schemes, scams and predation. There hasn\u2019t been, in New York City, a centralized agency or office that addresses all the various forms of deed theft. So\u00a0that\u2019s really a great development; that there is a single office now that coordinates efforts across different law enforcement agencies and civil legal service organizations.<\/p>\n

The New York State Office of Attorney General has been active in this area. We\u2019ve partnered with Letitia James and people in her office. They started convening, maybe five years ago, a deed theft task force that brought together different law enforcement agents and agencies in the city and civil legal service organizations to share resources and information about what they\u2019re seeing on the ground. But it was not so much public facing. Having an office now that is public facing, that is in the communities, that people can go to directly, is great.<\/p>\n

Delozier: How is deed theft affecting heirs\u2019 property transactions?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kohanowski:<\/strong>\u00a0Heirs\u2019 property is a really hot topic right now nationally in the home preservation circles because I think it accounts for a large part of wealth that\u2019s held in homes, especially in Black communities. It\u2019s something that I think has been happening for a long time. We originally saw it happening in places like the Gullah Geechee Islands and the South Carolina coast, but we saw the same practices transplanted into New York City. You\u2019d have Grandma\u2019s house up in Harlem, a brownstone worth $5 million, and she passed away 20 or 30 years ago and nobody\u2019s handled the estate. You might have three or four family members living in that house and 20 heirs who own a part of that property automatically, by operation of law.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve done some research, and we\u2019ve seen how much wealth has been lost due to those practices.\u00a0A lot of the work we\u2019re doing now is getting that information out to homeowners and to heirs, and getting people to take estate planning seriously, and just to be aware of what their rights are and the values that we\u2019re talking about. There\u2019s so much wealth there to be mined.<\/p>\n

Delozier: <\/strong>Data fragmentation seems to be a big enabler of deed theft and all forms of real estate fraud. <\/strong>Could there be a realistic expectation in the next 10 years to have some sort of national deed database, or does that seem unlikely given how low-tech some jurisdictions are?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kohanowski:<\/strong>\u00a0New York City is great because all of our land records are public, online and freely searchable, and that helps us as advocates working in this area. But all that information is local, and every municipality or every local clerk might have a different system. New York has 50-plus counties and every county has a slightly different variation on how to look at land records and how to trace title. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s something that can even happen at a national level because it\u2019s so local. But maybe AI could help.<\/p>\n

Part of the problem too is that we see the predation happening largely to homeowners who are already in distress \u2014 they might be in foreclosure, behind on their property taxes or need home repairs. New York City for the longest time, and every municipality does this \u2014 if somebody\u2019s behind on their property taxes, they can foreclose on that home, but they also release that information publicly.\u00a0It\u2019s basically giving a target list for the predators and scammers.\u00a0The same for foreclosure filings \u2014 you see people pouring through the foreclosure records because those are the targets for foreclosure rescue scams.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For generations, real estate has been the primary vehicle for building intergenerational wealth in America. But for older adults and Black homeowners, that vehicle has also made them a target, says Scott Kohanowski, general counsel at the Center for NYC Neighborhoods. New York City recently established a Deed Theft Prevention Office, building on longstanding community-based […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nDeed theft remains a growing threat for seniors, Black homeowners - Houses Marketplace<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/housesmarketplace.com\/ru\/deed-theft-remains-a-growing-threat-for-seniors-black-homeowners\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ru_RU\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Deed theft remains a growing threat for seniors, Black homeowners\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For generations, real estate has been the primary vehicle for building intergenerational wealth in America. 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