REO Sale Due Diligence

[Stephen Rowe]

 Hi all, I am at the beginning of a deal and found a strange piece of information. 

The deal is a single family 3/2 that is partially renovated and the seller is an REO. The plot is 17000sqft with a large 1000sqft shed/garage further back behind some overgrown bushes. This is in a city too. Initially, I was assuming that the whole plot was available and looking at the process for splitting it. However, before we looked at the property, my agent informed me that only a portion of the plot was for sale, the house and yard (around 7000sqft). But, that if I bought it, I would be on the hook for the full property tax assessment for all of the land. I looked at the county records and the parcel is still intact so that checks out. It feels a little fishy.

My questions are, 

Can the Bank sell just a partial plot without splitting it first?

Is there room to negotiate with an REO about getting a new price for the complete plot?

Has anyone ran into a situation like this before?

Thanks in advance for any info on this issue,

Stephen Rowe