Zombie house-worth the effort?

[Jonathan Holmes]

I was contacted by a potential seller, him and his wife are still on the deed of a duplex. The wife purchased it, fell behind payments and foreclosure was started. Per the potential seller the duplex was scheduled to be auctioned. Before this happened the wife declared bankruptcy. This stopped the auction from going forward. This brings us to the current situation the wife’s bankruptcy was completed several years ago and they both have moved on. I was told their attorney told them no one was coming for the property at the moment and advised them to rent it out or do whatever they wanted with it. They have done nothing and the house needs some work. The tax bill still comes to them and hasn’t been paid in several years. Having never ran into this before my assumption is that it is not worth the trouble even if the owners just want it to go away. I can’t imagine the title not being incredibly clouded. Any thoughts BP?