RM on a property, owner passed

[Scott Rosslow]

Sorry if this is not in the correct forum. My fiance (getting hitched in a month) has her own townhouse in a small HOA of 4 units. One owner passed and her son turned it over to the reverse mortgage company per an email he sent to the HOA. The 1300sf house on the property had a reverse mortgage from 2007 for $550k. I have no idea the remaining balance on the loan. I have called the number for the reverse mortgage and they couldn't find the property in their system. I would like to buy that property if the numbers are right. My understanding is the son could have bought the house at the remaining balance of the loan or 95% of the appraised value if its underwater. I feel like the house is worth maybe $180k maybe $250k if fixed up. I wanted to contact the son to see if we could structure a deal (if the numbers work) to buy the house, but I am not sure if that ship has sailed. Some questions I have:

• Would the reverse mortgage deal with me directly? It looks like they would be required to advertise the property for sale.
• Does the property go to foreclosure sale?
• I believe there are title issues with the property. The property appraiser files are a mess for the property. I plan on getting an attorneys opinion when I can locate the property/ assess the purchase price vs. value. Do title issues affect how they can sell the property?