Found a house, Forclosed by BoA, County says BoA owns, but they claim they don't own it??
Hello,
I was driving around the other day and found a distressed property that I am interested in purchasing for myself.
Upon walking up to the front door, there was some notices from 2011 that the house was winterized (Antifreeze put throughout the drains) (This had a Bank of America title), and a notice from Bank of America to call a number if I am interested in purchasing the property.
I searched the county records before calling, and it did indeed state Bank of America as the owner, which they forclosed on 3/2013 and chose to call them. After going through some automation I was able to talk to a lady who told me, that they are the mortgage holder, but are not the owner, and could not sell me the property. She stated that I would need to locate the borrower, she could not give me any information on them, but that Bank of America was not able to sell, as it's owned by the borrower.
I asked why did the records show them as the owner, and she stated that they are paying the property taxes on it, which is why the county records are displaying them as the owner???
Anyways, I called a real estate agent friend and asked for some clarification. He stated that it's a "ghost house", that I will not be able to locate the current owner. I asked about the bank paying the taxes, and he stated that basically, the owner does not pay the taxes, but the bank pays the taxes so the property does not become delinquent (That state tax lien trumps 1st mortgage), and then the owner pays BoA on the back end for the taxes, which makes the owner impossible to locate. He said the property could be in litigation from a death or inheritance, and the property will not be able to be sold until that is sorted out, and then BoA would be able to release or sell the property.
After that, I decided to contact a buddy of mine who does some P.I. work and has tracked people down for me in the past, and his information also pulls up BoA as the owner. Here is a picture (I edited some info out for confidentiality). (I am new to the forum so please excuse my ignorance to posting pictures)
http://i.imgur.com/RNM6zSL.png[/IMG]
Anyways, I have all the information for the previous owners... Whom were forclosed on in 2013. I find this as slightly odd, as all the notices and paperwork in the windows of the house were dated from 2011.
I have not called them yet as I just got the information tonight, but I have located them on Facebook and all seems well with their health and financial wellbeing based on what they have posted.
I am new to real estate and would appreciate any help and advice. Thank you.
I would very much so like to purchase this property for my primary residence and it's a shame such a once beautiful house has been sitting vacantly since 2011. There is so much tree debris that the drive way is completely hidden and under about 8" of leaves.
Also, if someone could explain why all the public sales and appraisal sites list a sale 3/2013 for $140,000 --- while my P.I.'s information lists the same date of foreclosure for a sale of $247,000.
Thank you.