Seller wants to sell BADLY! What do I do?

[Gabriel A.]

I'm a rookie investor and started cold calling yesterday. Found a property thats going for tax lein sale in Baltimore in the next few weeks. The lien is about $400.

I called the lady and she said she's been trying to get rid of the house since 2015. She found out it was sold to her with an unclean title, she hasn't mad any payments on it since 2015. Said she attempted to do a "deed in liue" but was denied. She said the mortgage company is going through chapter 11 bankruptcy and someone put in a short sale offer a month ago (not sure how that works) but she hasn't heard anything back. She said she has no clue whats going on with the bank.

She badly wants to sell, says the property has never been profitable for her. She said she overpaid for the property and bought it for 173k in 2008. The ARV is about 140k right now. I posted this in this forum because I'm not sure if this property is in the pre-forclosure stage or how I find out what going on with it.

I'm a new investor and I have no clue what to do. Any help and advice is welcome. 

[Tom Gimer]

For someone new to REI, a potential short sale on a property with title issues is not a good starting point.