Liens - Sheriff Sale

[Joshua Weaver]

Hello,

I'm considering purchasing a house at a Sheriff's sale. Unfortunately, the mortgage is no covered by the Sheriff's sale. Through a title search, I found there is still a mortage from 2001 that started with a balance of $125k. There is no way to find out the balance, but if you just run a mortgage calculator and assume an interest rate of 7% (what they were in 2001), the calculation shows there could still be a mortage of $70k. Would everybody agree that I shouldn't purchase this? 

The starting bid is $96k. The value of the house is probably $225-250k in good conidition. It needs at least needs windows, AC, and updates. Can't go inside to see what condition it is in. There is still stuff from the owner inside... Seems like a weird enough situation that I think I'm going to avoid it. It's been vacant for 2 years, but looks ok inside. The water and the electric are off.