How do you negotiate bank mortgage liens

[Martha Daisley]

Hello all

I have a scenario i need advice on.  I found an abandoned property while driving for dollars. I was able to get in touch with the owner and they are willing to sign it over for $1000.  The catch is that there are two liens on the property. Mortgage one for $122K, mortgage two for $38K plus they are behind on hoa dues,  The property has been abandoned for 8 or 9 years and they havent been paid in that long. The first bank started a forclosure years ago , then canceled the lis pendens. The second bank started a forclosure 3 years ago and then never finished the process. The hoa never put a lien on the property. The property needs about 11k worth of rehab. My question is, is it possible to negotiate with the banks to get the liens taken off ?   I spoke to a couple of real estate attorneys and they seemed to indicate that the route to go would be to negotiate a short sale. I dont want to go that route, I want to know if its possible to  have an attorney negotiate with the banks directly and offer them an amount ( 16K, for example), to just remove the liens.  Has anyone ever done this?

Thanks!

Martha