He was told the loan would be granted if he could prove
satisfactory title to a parcel of property being offered as
collateral. The title to the property dated back to 1803,
which took the Lawyer three months to track down. After
sending the information to the FHA, he received the following
reply: (actual letter):
"Upon review of your letter adjoining your client's loan application, we
note that the request is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we compliment
the able manner in which you have prepared and presented the application, we
must point out that you have only cleared title to the proposed collateral
property back to 1803.
Before final approval can be accorded, it will be necessary to
clear the title back to its origin."
Annoyed, the lawyer responded as follows (actual letter):
"Your letter regarding title in Case No. 189156 has been received. I note
that you wish to have title extended further than the 194 years covered by the
present application. I was unaware that any educated person in this country,
particularly those working in the property area, would not know that
queen, Isabella, being a pious woman and almost as careful about titles as the FHA, took the precaution of securing the blessing of
the Pope before she sold her jewels to finance
Now the Pope, as I'm sure you may know, is the emissary of Jesus Christ,the Son of God, and God, it is commonly accepted, created this
world. Therefore, I believe it is safe to presume that God also made that part
of the world called
Now, may we have our loan?"