Buying property at foreclosure subject-to

[Hal Thompson]

i am considering buying a junior lien on a property at foreclosure auction. The bank has a senior first mortgage in the $260k range, and I would have to pay $15k minimum at auction to get the property.

Per a real estate agent that tried to help the owner sell the property previously, she has allowed her pets to run rampant and damage the cabinets and pee on the floors of the unit (this is a 2bed/2bath townhome). So we're potentially looking at new cabinets, floors and base trim, at a minimum. This doesn't include anything else this lady decides to do to the property before she leaves.

Units in this building have been selling in the $350k-$400k range. The property originally sold for $290k in 2001. There has been substantial appreciation in this area.

I have a few questions from the gurus here:

1) Is there any way to get an exact payoff amount from the bank without the cooperation of the borrower? I can estimate this based on various bankruptcy and foreclosure filings that have been made in the past, but since this isn't the foreclosure of the first lien, I don't have an exact amount for the first lien payoff.

2) If I request a payoff from the bank, will I be forced to pay all fees and other charges incurred by the borrower for non-payment?

3) Do I have any negotiating leverage with the bank whatsoever in this situation? I don't see why they would give me a discount on the payoff, but I'm trying to see how others have dealt with this in the past and what kind of success they've had. This is Bank of America. I should note that bank has two other junior liens for about $50k each that have not been given priority, so those will be wiped out by the foreclosure (but might play into how they decide to negotiate the payoff ?).

Any thoughts on this deal are appreciated, even if they don't answer these specific questions.