Title Wave of Confusion

[Patrick Torres]

I located a distressed property that is vacant and boarded up. Ownership records showed that it is owned by an LLC so I researched it and discovered that the registered agent and presumed single member of the llc had passed away several years ago. I was able to make contact with his next of kin who were his brother and mother. They informed me that he had no will when he passed and that they were not even aware the llc still owned the property, they figured it would have been foreclosed on by now as he owed significantly more than it was worth and it was already in poor condition at the time of his passing.

Several things are odd to me. The public records show that a bank filed a notice of lis pendens a year or so after the owner passed away, but the property records subsequent to that do not show that ownership changed. The property taxes on the property are current, and I confirmed that his family were not the ones paying them. What is the order of operations in trying to purchase this property? I have spoken to a gentlemen who holds a second position mortgage on the property and he sounds like he would be thrilled to get any money. How would I go about determining whether the bank with the first position had indeed foreclosed on it or not, and if so if they would consider a short sale. Or am I missing the forest trough the trees, is there a simpler way to work with the family to buy the property and resolve the outstanding liens another way?