US government not claiming their money

[Lucky B.]

I was the successful bidder and unfortunately i paid 50k over the plaintiff max bid, well someone else was bidding the price up too, but long story short, i ended up selling the property, and i made some money. has there been any new laws or method to claim that money, the prior owners did not claim it. 

I am the type of person that likes to settle my debt, and problems quickly, so i contacted the HOA and asked them for a payoff because i thought that more fees and interest would be piling on since i inherited the debt.

Another investor told me that i should not have paid the HOA so quickly, that i should have let them go to the court. and get their money from the surplus funds. Is this correct ? If correct, can i get a lawyer to sue the HOA lawyer for misleading me, that i needed to pay them. The HOA payoff cost me 6k.

Also the clerk of the court verified that the surplus money is still with the court and if the HUD doesn't want it over so many months, then i would like to know if there is a way to get it .