Unmotivated seller of a vacant foreclosure

[Justin Denham]

Hi all, I'm looking for some advice on how to motivate a homeowner to sell me a property that is in foreclosure and according to neighbors has been vacant for at least 10 years. The background I was able to obtain was that the family that owned it passed away and it was willed to a family member who couldn't afford it. They pulled all the equity out near the top of the market in Tampa before the bust and then let it go into foreclosure. It now appears to be in limbo, almost as both the owner and bank have given up. For some reason it has gone through foreclosure multiple times only to stop and restart a few years later, so the bank now has a $300k note out on it but is not being paid. We spoke with the last listing agent and although he didn't share much, we learned they are very difficult people who wanted $400k for a house that needs about $75k in work and has an ARV of around $400k. I'm trying to find a creative way to get them to sell. My first idea was a kickback after the sale, but that seems entirely illegal. Any other thoughts on motivating them?