[miamiparis]

I am a US citizen and my parents are applying for the green card. Because my income is too low right now, my parents need to show that they own a minimum amount of assets.
They bought a condo in Miami Beach 2 years ago and they paid in full.
Immigration is asking for documents such as "mortgage/lien or lien release of any real estate".
My parents never had any mortage and paid right away in full.
I contacted their real estate agent and she told me that they have to pay for a title search.
The problem is that we have to pay that also for another apartment in Miami and also licensed appraisal (required by immigration also). So the total for all that is about $1400, in addition to all immigration fees ($5000) for my parents. This is costly.
Is there a way to avoid paying for a title search and have a document proving that my parents paid in full at the beginning?

[Occifer]

The documents from the transaction are all filed at the Clerk of the Court's office, however there's nothing about a lien that is going to be filed because there was never a lien to satisfy. There just won't be a record of any mortgage. I would assume that either your or your parents are working with an immigration attorney, correct? What is his/her advice?

I would imagine that CIS will require some sort of third party certification that the deed is free of a lien, just like they will require an independent appraiser to certify the value of the property.

If you don't have an attorney, either you or your parents need to contact USCIS and ask them exactly what they require in a situation such as this. They will have the answer. The federal government is very particular about things like this, so guesses and assumptions from people on the Internet shouldn't be relied upon. You need to confirm with them EXACTLY what documents need to be provided.

[miamiparis]

I’m disappointed with my immigration attorney. With a good one, one should not have received a “request for evidence” from immigration.
When I talked to him first, I told him that when I checked online, they require a licensed appraisal, he told me “no, it will be ok without it” and he was wrong.
And for this matter, he said something like “you need satisfaction of mortgage or something like that”, so he was not very precise.
I will follow your advice and call USCIS tomorrow, and if they give me a response, that would be the safest response.

[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by miamiparis

I’m disappointed with my immigration attorney. With a good one, one should not have received a “request for evidence” from immigration.
When I talked to him first, I told him that when I checked online, they require a licensed appraisal, he told me “no, it will be ok without it” and he was wrong.
And for this matter, he said something like “you need satisfaction of mortgage or something like that”, so he was not very precise.
I will follow your advice and call USCIS tomorrow, and if they give me a response, that would be the safest response.

Show immigration your parents property tax bill......it has the appraised value right on it and bases the property tax amount off this value. Then outline they bought this property on (date), paid (amount) and didn't not have any financing at that time (paid cash). A closing statement from the real estate closing would document all of that information.

Now, just send me $100 and you saved $1300!

[miamiparis]

Unfortunately, the appraised value of the county is too small compared to the real one done by a licensed appraiser.
Yes, the bill shows the amount and the date, but it doesn't say that it has been paid in full.