You gotta look down the road but don't create trouble you may never encounter.

The IRS has been very unhelpful and unresponsive, so I thought I'd see if anybody here has encountered this situation before, and what channels they went through to get the ball rolling and resolve it.Thanks in advance!

I completely understand your frustration and am very sorry for the challenges you have encountered. 

I know how to find all that information out, going to the courts, assessors office, register of deeds, pre foreclose list etc.... but the hardest part that I have encountered is getting the contact information of the owners or next of kin.

The stuff that sold at auction was primarily undeveloped land in unpleasant or rural areas.I would imagine in this current market, there are even more people looking to buy at tax sales than in 2009 and so I would be interested to hear if anyone has encountered success and found hidden gems this way.

Have you encountered similar situations and do you think my reasoning is sound?  

Did you encounter any additional taxes due besides the transfer taxes?  

Out of all the agents I've met, not saying all agents because there is bad appraisers as well but just my thoughts of the agents I've encountered very few actually were knowledgeable enough to actually price their homes in line with the local market.

I took the position in April of this year because everyone wanted the former treasurer out for mismanagement of funds when we were slapped with an orange sticker from the City of Chicago saying that we had 10 days to pay a $25k water bill.

Either way, when you divide the costs between the units, you may have a little less sticker shock.