Pre-Foreclosure Flip deal??

[Dave Ray]

Hi all,

So there is a ranch in my neighborhood that an elderly person left to their son and the son started to renovate by putting a second story on. This was about 18 months ago and nobody has touched it since. The inside is unfinished..not even a stairway to the brand new second level. I finally had a enough looking at it and wondering what if... so I went to the Assessor/treasurers office to see what taxes are owed and try to get some contact info for the owner. Turns out there are about 23,000 in taxes and the property will most likely start the foreclosure process in January 2019 per the Treasurer. So the property is not in foreclosure yet. If done correctly the property should have an ARV of about 180,00 to 200,000 so I feel it is worth investigating if I can get it cheap enough for a flip

I am trying to reach the owner and see if we can get a deal done. 

However, If I succeed in making him an offer that works for both of us assuming there are no other liens on the property, What kind of legal process can I expect from this? Is there a legal nightmare behind the $23,000 in owed taxes?

Has anyone had a similar experience? Any thoughts? Any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

Dave