Abandoned property - deceased owner - no will?

[Christos Philippou]

Hey everybody... looking to get some help on a strange lead that I have very little experience in. Hopefully somebody on here will see this who has some experience and can shed some light. Am I at a lost cause? Give up and move on? Or are there options? Thanks!

So I encountered a vacant/abandoned property that has been in that state for 3-5 years, and was condemned by the city due to it's poor status (hoarder house etc.). There are a couple years of back taxes owed, some late utility bills and such. All under $5k or so. 

The next of kin who I have been in touch with said the deceased owner didn't have a will, so they would have to go open up an estate at the Registrar of Wills and go through the process to take possession. They really want to sell it to me, but they just said they don't have the energy to go through all that. I offered to pay all their back taxes too, so they can actually walk with money. 

So what can I do? Anything at all? When does the city take possession of the house for back taxes or what not? Will the city even do anything about it? I live in Wilmington, and there are THOUSANDS of vacant properties that are just bordered up. I'll pay the city! But I doubt they will just take ownership of it to sell. 

Any help?

[James Masotti]

@Christos Philippou - There's a few things that I guess are possible here. As a disclaimer I have never done a deal like this and my steps outlined below are purely speculation and opinion and how I would go about approaching this situation. If you plan to move forward with this deal then keep us posted in this thread on exactly what it is that you ended up doing to get the deal closed. 

1. Search the County Records website to see who the deeded owner of the property is. See if you can contact that person at the information on record. If it's the city then you'll likely need to contact the Real Estate Department or the Finance Department.
2. Have an attorney do a title search to find out who has placed liens on the property. This will tell you ultimately who you need to payoff and in what dollar amounts. 
3. If the person you are talking to is not the deeded owner, then I would consult a probate attorney and find out what the persons options are for taking ownership so that they can sell to you. You will likely need to pay for these services
4. Armed with the steps needed to transfer the property to the new owner in accordance with Delaware law, you can now go to the person trying to sell it to you and spell everything out to them. 
5. Have a real estate attorney draft up a contract between the two of you outlining the steps, timeline, price, and any other conditions needed in order to guarantee if you pay all those expenses and go through all the hassle that you have legal grounds and rights that will stand up in court to actually close on the property (don't simply take the sellers word for this)
6. Armed with this contract contact all the creditors again and let them know you have an equitable interest in the property and that you are facilitating it through probate so that you can pay off any debts owed on the property. My guess is that the balances due are more than what will be generated from a sheriff sale, so see if you can negotiate the fines down lower if you pay them off in full.
7. With a hopefully lower payoff on the outstanding debts you can go back to the probate attorney and the seller to start down the process of getting title transferred. 
8. Complete all the above necessary steps and go to closing on your new property.