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These people have become like indentured serfs, with all of the responsibilities for the properties but none of the rights

[np_storybar title=”They bought the house, but it’s still not theirs” link=”http://business.financialpost.com/2013/01/10/curse-of-the-zombie-title-they-bought-the-house-but-its-still-not-theirs/?__lsa=ba20-9860″]

Brian and Holly Barnhart dreamed of turning an eyesore into a home for their growing family.

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Their dream was destroyed by a zombie title — not theirs, but someone else’s. As their experience shows, buying a foreclosure can be risky.



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COLUMBUS — Joseph Keller doesn’t expect he’ll live to see the end of 2013. He blames the house at 190 Avondale Avenue.

Five years ago, Keller, 10 months behind on his mortgage payments, received notice of a foreclosure judgment from JP Morgan Chase. In a few weeks, the bank said, his three-story house with gray vinyl siding in Columbus, Ohio, would be put up for auction at a sheriff’s sale.

The 58-year-old former social worker and his wife, Jennifer, packed up their home of 13 years and moved in with their daughter. Joseph thought he would never have anything to do with the house again. And for about a year, he didn’t.