Unknown Owners...MERS interference??

Question

Hey Everyone, I am currently looking for another rehab project and found two properties which I noticed the other day driving around. Both of the properties are vacant and have been for quite some time (I talked with the neighbors). One of the properties went through an eviction process which I found out through searching the records at the county courthouse. With these records I was able to uncover the landlords phone number. I proceeded to call him up and see what happened with the property and if he was interested in selling it. He claimed that the he was foreclosed upon about a year ago and that he no longer owns the house. However, I ran a search at my local title company which in fact states that he is the current owner. I called him back and told him that he actually is the owner and the more we talked the more frustrated he got with me. In the end, he did not really want to cooperate with me. I offered to give him a few bucks for his time and efforts to sign a release of information so the bank would be able to talk to me about his situation.

With this second house that I have identified, I knew one of the previous tenants in the house, who gave me the landlords personal email (he is an Absentee owner from California) in which I contacted him offering to buy his house. Initially he did not reply so I had my realtor contact him. She stated that she had a seller for his home and asked if he was interested in selling. He too, stated that he got foreclosed upon and did not want to talk at all about the house or even entertain the idea of selling it. I also had my title company look into this property where they found that this individual, is the current owner. So I am at a loss for who to contact in order to find current owner and negotiate a sale. Is this one of those situations where MERS was involved and messed up the recording process?

I am not too sure where to go from here. Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas? Has anyone been in this same situation? Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Account Closed · Answer

@Robert Vernazza Hi Robert, I bought pre-foreclosures for years and I am very familiar with what you are saying. Guys on the east coast however, have a different process for foreclosures than on the west coast and probably wouldn't have the experience to deal with this narrow of a problem. It may be MERS but there are other factors at play as well. Go to the assessor's website and see who is paying the property taxes. Once you let me know that, I'll tell you the next step. Ken

Mike Koprowski · Answer

I completely agree that it would be a sore subject to talk about, that's why I would recommend sending them reminders that you would like to help them out with their situation. You will definitely get a lot of proverbial and literal doors shut in your face in this game. I'd like to know how you use the MERS to gain knowledge, is that different than searching your local County Registry of Deeds? Thanks, PM me if you'd like. Hope you gain some traction.

Wayne Brooks · Answer

@Robert Vernazza I have no idea how your local court filing system works....you'll have to figure that out. The owners still Own it, not the bank. When people refuse to do anything or face reality, , there's not much you can do.

Bobby Vernazza · Answer

Thanks for the quick responses. I don't think that they are stonewalling me, they seem sincere that their house has been taken from them and they just don't want to talk about it. If my house got taken from me, it would definitely be a sore subject for me to talk about with a stranger as well.@Wayne Brooks how would I be able to look at the foreclosure action file? Would I have to contact the bank on their behalf? I tried to look up one of the properties on the computers at the county courthouse; however, I saw nothing about a foreclosure, just a bunch of documents dealing with evictions. In regards to the other property, I could not find anything at all. I have a program on my computer that will tell me what bank the owner used to finance the house, however they will not talk to me if I do not have a signed paper from the borrower stated that it is okay for me to talk to the bank on their behalf.

Wayne Brooks · Answer

You'll find that many people will say "the bank took it back and I don't own it any more" when what happened was the bank filed foreclosure and has never finished it. If want to know for sure you'll have to look st the foreclosure action file. MERS has nothing to do with deed/ownership records.

Mike Koprowski · Answer

Hey Robert Vernazza , Do you think these guys are just stonewalling you? Seems strange that they are still shown as the owners. I'd say add them a mailing list and send a friendly letter every three weeks or so letting them know that you can help them. I've compiled a pretty good list of properties in the last few months just "driving for dollars" to find from market leads and I send them letters at regular intervals, but I commend you for directly calling them, I think I need to step up my game!! Remember this is a numbers game, if these guys aren't interested move onto the next one, there's certainly a lot out there. Good luck!