Buying from the guy who bought the tax lien...

[Michael Wentzel]

The last couple days I have connected with an out-of-state seller through Craig's List who is trying to sell a few properties in Pueblo, Colorado. He said he picked them up as "tax liens". I had my handyman drive by one of them today and he found a notice "condemning" the house on the door. But he said the electric and gas service were still in place and the property looked in okay condition. When I asked the seller, he said the properties are "condemned" when the county sells them to him. I tried to call regional building and code enforcement today to clarify, but only ended up up on someone's voicemail.

Here are the questions...

1) Does any of this make sense to you?

2) I assume that even if the properties are "condemned", as I bring them back up to standard that the property would no longer be condemned. Is that correct?

3) The seller is happy to close with a Title company here in Colorado. My general thought is that if I close at a Title company, not too much could go wrong. Am I putting too much trust in the Title company?

Your insight would be greatly appreciated. I am still learning and this is yet another new type of transaction for me.

Mike