He also has called his registry a “crime scene’’ riddled with fraudulent paperwork, and last month O’Brien alleged that Palin unknowingly bought an Arizona home whose paperwork was signed by robosigners - bank representatives who didn’t properly review mortgage documents. (Palin did not respond to a request for comment.)
“Banks have participated in a national epidemic of fraud that has clouded or damaged the chain of title of hundreds of thousands of American homeowners all across the country,’’ O’Brien said in one of his many press releases. “It would be a dereliction of my duties as the keeper of the records to record these documents and any other documents that contain questionable signatures.’’
To some, O’Brien - who was first sworn in to his elected post in 1977 - is the champion of homeowners battling lenders who act as if they are above the law. But others say he has gone too far, using flawed analysis to overstep his authority as an official recorder of property documents. His tactics have left local real estate attorneys, and even colleagues, scrambling for guidance from state authorities.
“The real estate bar is very upset about what is going on,’’ said Edward Bloom, president of the Real Estate Bar Association for Massachusetts. Bloom said O’Brien is creating a “media circus’’ over alleged robosigners, something he doesn’t have authority to police.
“That’s a matter to be determined in court, whether something is a forgery or not a forgery,’’ Bloom said. He called O’Brien’s antifraud campaign unprecedented.
“We are all wondering what is going on and what we can do about it,’’ Bloom said.
O’Brien said he finds his new activism invigorating, citing collaborations with county recorders across the country and correspondence with homeowners thanking him for his support.
The registry’s website, www.salemdeeds.com, looks more like a political blog, with links to media coverage and tips on how to demand mortgage documents from lenders.
