Fishy Quitclaim before foreclosure?

[Jim L.]

I've been looking at pre-foreclosure properties and came across one where heirs of the deceased owner of a many-years-abandoned home with significant equity were persuaded a couple of years ago, for substantial $, to quitclaim the property to an investor (the heirs think he is an attorney, but he's not).  The quitclaim deeds appear to have never been recorded in the subject county.  The property was conveyed to a living trust before the owner died, and one of the heirs appears to be the trustee.  The property is now slated for foreclosure auction some weeks away against the estate and heirs.  Something seems shady here even beyond the apparent impersonation of an attorney, particularly since the heirs could have immediately sold the home even 10 years ago for much more than they got for quitclaiming.   The quitclaim deeds erroneously indicate that the heirs received unbiased counsel regarding their options (but sheer ignorance may account for their approving that statement).  

So, my questions are:

1) Why would an investor go after quitclaim deeds before acquiring title?

2) Would the quitclaim deeds have any affect if someone simply contacted the trustee and bought the property?

3) Isn't the "attorney"/investor risking that someone will bid up the property at foreclosure?

4) How do such quitclaim deeds relate to or affect a purchase of redemption rights from the same heirs or trustee?