Abstract Requirement Rip-Off of Oklahomans!

Special Report via Tulsa World

The Grapevine has repeatedly called for the elimination of abstracts to convey real property in Oklahoma.(ie: real estate: your home, business, vacant lot) Goes without saying that abstractors and abstract offices would follow!
Some in the Legislature tried this last session, unfortunately without success.
Article mentions [indicted Auditor] McMahans help in killing the bill.

Oklahoma is one of only 2 states that still use this archaic system which amounts to nothing more than a glorified copying service. BUT, it does keep a lot of lawyers in business and provides a 'bird-nest' on the ground for the select few who have the clout to be able to open an abstractors office. Or as the article below states a "very lucrative" business.
Think anyone with a desk and a copy machine can open one? Give it a try!

Former Sen. Gene Stipe has kept the abstract business pretty well sewn up in eastern Oklahoma and some other areas of the state for many, many, years. State law requires an abstract and abstract offices, again as the article below states, can charge what ever they want.

Removing abstractors/abstract offices from under the Auditor and Inspector to a new agency - the newly formed Oklahoma Abstractors Board - has done NOTHING to clean up the corruption (read below - new chair already under investigation), nor does it address the fact that in todays business climate, abstracts are no longer needed.
There is a better, almost - if not entirely - cost-free way to transfer real property! It is past time for Oklahoma to eliminate this antiquated system that amounts to a rip-off of property owners and as the following article will show, abstracting is also a system open to corruption and manipulation.

by: SUSAN HYLTON World Staff Writer6/8/2008

Testimony indicates corruption and complaints were rife in the abstract industry.
MUSKOGEE',~The underbelly of the state's abstract system was exposed in testimony last week in the trial of State Auditor and Inspector Jeff McMahan, whose office once regulated the industry.

McMahan and his wife Lori McMahan of Tecumseh are accused of accepting bribes and illegal contributions from Kiowa millionaire businessman Steve Phipps, who owned a number of abstract offices throughout southeastern Oklahoma in partnership with former state Sen. Gene Stipe, D-McAlester.

Witnesses described a culture of illegally bankrolling the campaigns of Democratic candidates through the use of lower-paid abstract employees who were reimbursed by Phipps in exchange for political favors that protected the abstract industry.

By his own account, Phipps admitted to organizing illegal fundraising events and straw donations for numerous Democrats for nearly a decade. Some of them, like McMahan and former state auditor Clifton Scott, knew about it and others didn't, Phipps said. Scott denies being aware of straw donations.

Ex-auditor employee Tim Arbaugh claimed in testimony that Tulsa abstract owner Randy Dittmann also came through for McMahan in his 2006 campaign by providing straw donors. Dittmann, president of Buffalo Land Abstract Co., is under investigation but has not been charged. He could not be reached for comment but said in January that the allegations are not accurate.

The Legislature removed regulation of the abstracting industry from the auditor's office when allegations against McMahan surfaced last year. Gov. Brad Henry appointed Dittmann as chairman of the new Oklahoma Abstractors Board earlier this year to provide oversight of the abstract industry. Dittmann then stepped down after it was reported that he was named by an unidentified witness in an FBI affidavit as being a straw donor in McMahan's 2002 and 2006 campaigns.

Through the course of the trial, it's been said that Oklahoma is just one of two states that requires home buyers to pay for an abstract, which is a record of all the public documents on file related to the title of a property.
The new Oklahoma Abstractors Board puts it this way: "Oklahoma is one of two states that require the highest standards for the title evidence and the title examination." The more title history a property has, the more pages are in the abstract and the higher the cost. Sometimes the cost can be astronomical, $15,000", according to Rep. Jerry Ellis, D-Valliant.

Ellis testified about his efforts to write a bill that would have eliminated the abstract industry after receiving numerous complaints about Southern Abstract in Idabel, which was then owned by Phipps and Stipe. He said his constituents were upset about the price and the time it took to process an abstract, which was causing some to lose their loans.

"It was just holding up business is what it was doing," Ellis said. There were also complaints that the employees were mean. "They weren't terribly concerned about what the customers thought because they couldn't get (abstracts) anywhere else," Arbaugh testified. Arbaugh and Phipps have testified that McMahan helped Phipps by successfully thwarting the bill.

In the end, an agreement was set up in which the Idabel company would charge no more than $850 for an abstract and they would take no longer than 30 days to process a "normal" abstract, Ellis said. Ellis said McMahan assured him that the Idabel company would follow the agreement, which applied only to the Idabel office and no other abstract company in the state. Southern Abstract is the only abstract company in McCurtain County.

When John Callaham, a Broken Bow banker, put in an application to start an abstract business, Arbaugh said he was instructed by McMahan to do everything he could to slow down the process so Phipps wouldn't have a competitor.

Abstract companies are allowed to set up their own fees. The new abstractor's board is supposed to review the fees to ensure they are not excessive. Members of the new board include six people from the abstract and title business, an attorney, banker and real estate broker. [Fox and Hen House]

Phipps has testified that the abstract business is very lucrative. As co-owner of about seven abstract offices, Phipps said he earned $200,000 to $400,000 a month. Contacted Friday, Ellis said that about half the counties in the state operate with just one abstract company.

The Grapevine urges you to contact your Representative, your Senator. Abstracts need to be eliminated as a requirement (rip-off) of Oklahomans transferring real estate.