Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

It's hard to say with what you have posted. There are a number of issues.

First of all if they deeded the house to you, then when did they deed the house to someone else? Who recorded their deed first? Were you or the other parties aware of the prior deed? Who occupied the house and paid taxes for all of these years?

Mr. Roach raises some of the many questions your post begs. Quite frankly it makes no sense that the deed to you would have been recorded, and then they were able to sell the house after that. No title company would have allowed that transaction to go through in their office and no title insurer would have insured it if the deed had been recorded. If it was recorded after the deed from the sale, then your deed is worthless, unless the buyers knew about it. I am a former vice president and associate general counsel for the parent company of Fidelity Natl. Title, Chicago Title, and a number of other title companies. If you would like to sit down for a discounted consultation to go over the details of the situation and get some more concrete advice, feel free to contact me.

Before you spend any money on lawyers or get your hopes up too high, it might be a good idea to visit the office of the Sacramento County recorder (if I recall, it's in an east-side suburban area) and locate and have copied all of the recorded deeds and instruments affecting that particular parcel -- deeds, Notice of Default, deeds of trust, everything -- going back to before your friends acquired and financed the house. Try to pick a time when the clerks aren't too busy to help you. This process will expedite a lawyer's analysis and review of your situation. I think it's 80% likely your case will rise or fall on whether your deed was recorded first in 1984 or if the sale to someone else beat your deed to the recorder's desk. However, you'll need a fairly complete documentary history to show your lawyer so the other 20% of oddball possibilities can be considered and eliminated.