Deed service ad ‘raises red flags,’ official says

CARSON CITY -- Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto advised Nevadans on Wednesday that they do not have to pay a lot of money to private companies to acquire deeds to their properties.

Masto issued an alert for residents to be aware of a letter that National Deed Service Inc. recently sent to property owners in Churchill County that offered them a copy of their deeds for $59.50.

She said deeds and supporting documents can be obtained for much less money from the county recorder's offices where they were first filed.

Masto added that she was not making any determination about the legitimacy of the offer from National, based in Northbrook, Ill. She said the advertisement "raises red flags."

She also said people can check the Better Business Bureau's national Web site, www.bbb.org, for information about companies that do business nationally.