Emily Brown
Typos can be embarrassing and unfortunate, but rarely do they result in you becoming the new owner of 85 homes.
I know, it's hard to comprehend how one could lead to the other, but stay with me.
It all happened in 2022, when a woman set out to buy a new house in a neighborhood filled with a total of 85 properties.
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The homeowner, whose name was not revealed, spent $594,481 on what she believed to be just one home in Sparks, northeast of Reno, Nevada.
It wasn't until she filled out her paperwork with the assessor in Washoe County that she revealed she'd actually got a lot more than she'd bargained - or even paid - for.
On the documents, it stated that the women owned ‘lots one through 85… and Common Areas A and B’.
Cori Burke, the chief deputy assessor for Washoe County, believed that the issue came about due to a typo made during paperwork filled out with ‘a full-service title company’ situated in Las Vegas.
Burke explained that it appeared the title company 'may have copied and pasted a legal description from another Toll Brothers transfer when preparing (the homebuyer's) deed for recordation'.
The simple mistake meant that the woman owned an estimated $50 million worth of property, instead of the $594,000 she'd paid for.
Burke went on to note that it was 'pretty clear' that a mistake had been made, adding: "Our assessment services division reached out to [the company] right away so they could begin working on correcting the chain of title for the 86 properties transferred in error."
Though the whole situation seems pretty hard to believe, Burke admitted that the mishap actually isn't unheard of due to the simplicity of the copy and paste function.
"This particular case is just a little more interesting because of the number of lots involved," she said.
"It is cut-and-dry for us, but we only see the recorded documents, not what the title company goes through to get clear title.
"I think someone could try to make things difficult. However, the title company also has the offer and acceptance for the purchase on file so the intent is pretty clear."
Burke said that the issue was ultimately resolved two weeks after the incident took place, when 'true and rightful ownership was returned' in new documents.
"The assessor's office has updated the ownership on all associated parcels," Burke added.