Vacant property - Uncertainty about the owner

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I have been following a vacant house since 2010 mostly due to having relatives on the same street.  The house is located in a Pittsburgh neighborhood that has been hot for the last few years.  Long before finding BP, a friend of mine called the out of state owner to inquire about his desire to sell.  Since finding BP, I have a renewed interest in this property. 

While doing research on the property and the San Diego owner, I discovered a few things that has me uncertain about the property ownership.  His parents owned the property.  His mother passed in 2010, and her husband preceded her in death.  The county website shows the property as owned by the husband & wife, both of which are deceased.  When I originally looked at it years ago, I assumed her son's name was on the property with her. 

It is her son's San Diego address listed for tax billing, but I discovered today that although he shared his father's first name he does not have the same middle name/initial.  The county website shows the father's middle initial, not the sons.  So that made me wonder if the estate was still ongoing?  It is going on 4 years now, so I would have assumed that would have been finalized years ago.

Is it possible that the son does indeed own the property, despite the county still having the parents listed as owners?  The last recording date for the property is over 50 years ago, something that I didn't pay much attention to a couple years ago when I first looked it up.

The property has been vacant since she passed and I know it has received multiple code violations.  I expected to see it for sale after he started getting violations, but he arranged to have the bare minimum work done and it remains vacant waiting for the next violation to come his way.  Any insight from the BP community would be welcomed.

[Adam D.]

Here's my newbie response.. So the way I read this it seems like you have some contact with the current caretaker of the property? It sounds like a ripe property for them to want to get rid of but it seems like the best option would be to contact them to ask what's going on. Call or send them a letter.

If you want to do your own research then you can try to track down the probate record to see what's going on with the estate. If the caretaker in San Diego is the executor then they may have some power to transfer the property to you at some point.

If he is fixing up the bare minimum and paying taxes then it could have sentimental meaning that he doesn't want to let go of it. Or he is trying to preserve the value for when he's ready to sell.

Id make a pitch for it and if unsuccessful follow up in 6-8 months. You just want to be top of mind when they finally are ready to dispose of it.