Found a house a bank forgot it had & would like to sell me as NPN

[Darin M.]

Evening All,

I want to run a potential property purchase by you to make sure I am working this in the correct procedure in buying a note directly from a bank.

I found a house recently in the neighborhood buried in the trees.

Sent a letter to the tax record on file, got the return to sender response - No surprises there.

Talked with the neighbors of said property while walking the dog (best damn conversation starter ever).

"Why yes",the neighbor says, " I actually have the owners number, would you like for me to give them a call?"  Bingo.

After talking with the owner, owner wants nothing to do with the property but has a mortgage on it that in his words,"He will never put another dime towards" and he had no idea if he has been foreclosed on or not, which it turns out, he had not been.

So I get the name of the bank, and after several rounds and letters of authorization, and the officer being surprised that they had the mortgage still (They had a systems upgrade that purged information...) we finally get to the point of talking about what I could offer on the note as the institution has written off the mortgage (quick side note here the owner decided to do some remodeling work and took out the floors, subfloors and a few other walls so understand that this property is really nothing more than a shell at this point and will need all new systems, insulation, drywall, etc  you get the picture, full tilt train wreck).  We have agreed to talk here in a week after I get a chance to get inside of the property and work up the rehab numbers.

The bank officer recommended that they would sell me the note to the property while coordinating the processing a deed in Lieu of Foreclosure with the current mortgage holder who has already said that he would gladly sign over the property. 

Before purchase I will make sure to do a complete tax, title and liens search.

I do have a complete plan for rehabbing this property for sale.

I know the area market and what it can bear as I am closing on a house next week in the same neighborhood.

So Questions:

1. This is a NPN, what would be an accurate offer %if it is known as going straight to Deed in Lieu? I have a couple of ideas but would love to hear your thoughts.

2. The note is approximately $30,000 that has already been written off on their 2016 taxes and the ARV of the completed property is about $94,000

3.What question am I not asking that I should? (and yes I will consult with a lawyer about this. Anyone know a good Foreclosure Lawyer in Knoxville, TN?)

As always, thanks in advance!

Cheers,

Darin