Tax Deed for vacant lot owned by Grandfather 25+ Years ago

[Chad Zetrouer]

Hi, I plan on eventually investing in local real estate where I live but am currently saving for my first house hack and stumbled on what might be a opportunity?

My Grandfather was a home builder long ago before he passed away. In the process he sold a vacant lot on the east side of town in a low income area for $3,000 to the owner of the house on the adjacent lot, who then used the lot as a yard even fencing it in and possibly building a driveway on it. (small possibility an addition to the house extends onto the lot)

Fast forward to today and since that time the home was apparently foreclosed by a bank and then passed around from one real estate company to another. As of today it is rented out and up for sale for $53,500.00 with photo's using this lot (the houses yard) as a selling point.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/404-SE-12th-Ter-Gainesville-FL-32641/42734496_zpid/

Then this morning my Mother was served paper that the vacant lot will be auctioned off in October and because she is a Trustee of my Grandfathers Estate and my Grandfather was the last to own the land, his estate can purchase the land for Taxes which is $4,000.00 before the auction.

I'm wondering if there's an opportunity here but at first glance it looks like a mess that's best avoided.

[Wayne Brooks]

Something is not right here. 

If the sale of the was recorded in the county records, your grandfather/estate would have NO rights to the property “as the previous owner”.....it simply doesn’t work that way.  Sounds like maybe the lot sale was never recorded maybe, your grandfather is still listed as the owner, and the estate is receiving notice if the tax auction. 

The foreclosure was likely just for the lot the house was on, easy enough to verify by the legal description in the foreclosure/final judgment. 

Aside from all that, does the lot have any real value on it’s own?