Buying a note...without a note

[Chris Nowlin]

I was contacted by a seller because of one of my mailers. He has power of attorney for his mother and is needing to sell her house. To make a long story short (can expand if necessary), the property is legally owned by his cousin through a seller finance arrangement in 2012. 

Once I let him know the property was not in his mother's name he became confused. He did not realize the deed had been recorded since the note was never signed and a payment has yet (with an exception of recent months) to be made. There is a lien on the property for $150,000 held by the mother. 

He agreed to sell us the note for $90,000 under the pretense that there has only been about $2,500 paid towards the property. As I am collecting documents to bring to a lawyer, the man tells me that there is note held by an attorney, but it was never signed by either party. Without the signed note, is everybody, except the property owner, out of luck?

I have provided the information on to a few people who plan on getting back to me when they know more, but I just wanted to put it out to the BP community and see your thoughts on the matter. 

*The owner wants to try and sell the property for $200k, but we are afraid if he is successful, and the note is not legally binding, that he may not pay back any of the money owed.