reasearching a forclosure

[Mark Davis]

My Brother and I are new to real estate investing.  while driving for dollars, using a list we got from auctions.com, we came upon a house.

we were looking around, it had several notices on the door, yard unkempt, interior (from the windows) looked like they had just picked up and left.

we found a fed-ex (very weathered) package by the door.  got a name off of it.

talked to the neighbors, found out the gentlemen had died 2 years ago.  (august 2014) nobody there since then

so i looked up the obit,  found it.  found next of kin ( a daughter and his mother).

i found the daughter on face book.

they both still live in the area, as far as i can tell.

there is a sheriff sale auction set for January 19, 2017.

i looked up the deed and as far as i can tell there is just one.  from 2001.

on the auction.com report there are things called 

mortgage assignment 5/22/2015   251,300$

mortgage assignment 11/19/2014  251,300$

Mortgage release 7/5/2011 282,000$

mortgage record 6/15/2011 251,300$

mortgage record 10/2/2006 30,000$

mortgage record 4/3/2006 20000$

....  several more, what look like hel's

and the orginal  from 10/9/2001 193000$   - which is the one i found in the county records.

2 questions...   what are the mortage assignments and releases?

and also

   should I/ Can I contact them 

TIA