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You gotta love this lawyer! Only in Louisiana -
Everyone who has ever bought a house will enjoy this.
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 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 (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 loan?"
The loan was approved.