A REALLY sticky situation I could use some help with
Ok. Here's what's going on:
My wife's grandmother had a house that was owned free and clear and, when she died in 2008, there was no will deeding the house to anyone else, so it kind of became a "family estate". Currently, my wife's aunt and cousin live in the house, but they have absolutely destroyed what was once a beautiful home, and they have allowed the taxes to run in arrears. Two years ago this month, my mother-in-law went in and paid the taxes to avoid tax foreclosure on the house. But since then, the family has not paid taxes, and they are now two years in arrears again. They are not yet in foreclosure as far as I know, and I don't know at what point they'd go into foreclosure, but surely they cannot continue to live in the house without paying taxes and have there be no consequences.
My wife and I have advised her mother not to pay the back taxes on the house again, because that would only enable the "ingrates" (as my wife calls them) to continue on as they are, and my mother-in-law is retired and on a fixed income, and she simply can't keep forking over a couple of thousand dollars every couple years to prevent the loss of her family home.
So. What I want to know is, is there ANY way in which we could catch the house before it went into tax foreclosure, pay off the back taxes, gain control of the deed and the house, and evict the current occupants so we can do a full gut rehab on the home and return it to its former glory? I know we could technically buy it out of tax foreclosure, but the problem is that, if it goes into foreclosure, it's fair game, and ANYONE can buy it, putting us in a bidding war with strangers over our family home. So, we're not really sure what to do.
Ok, Bigger Pockets; you guys collectively know everything there is to know about real estate. Help us figure a way to get this house, restore it, and put people in there who will appreciate it.