Newbie in first deal with unknown lien
I used a broker to find me an investment property in South FL. He found me a foreclosure through Homepath and I purchased it with the intent to do work on it. It had violations and failed the 40 year cert, along with some minor fees, which I was aware of and planned to address. We got estimates for the work before buying it. I signed a hold harmless agreement for what I thought were just the fines I knew about. After purchasing the property I find out there is a special master lien on the property too. This was in the documents, but I was not notified about it by my broker or the listing agent. The paper that listed it was very rough and hard to read and I thought the amount listed was the price of the property that it was foreclosed for. I didn't understand this, and my broker, who had been holding my hand throughout the whole deal didn't catch it either. When I went to accept the violations from the city after purchasing it, I was told by the contractor, who gave me the quote for resolving the violation, that once the work was complete we would request mitigation and it would be dropped. We are still waiting for permits, but I'm getting nervous about this lien because it's substantial, equal to the cost of the property. I never would have bought it and my broker would have never recommended it if he knew about it either, all we knew of was this one fee. Is it true that I can have this lien dropped once the work is complete? And what do I do if it can't? The property isn't worth anything close to the value if you include the lien, and nobody would buy it if they actually had to pay it. This is my first investment property, I hope I didn't make a big mistake.