Under California foreclosure law, can a vendor place a mechanics lien on a home for work performed for the prior owner after the foreclosure sale and the recording (perfecting) of the deed?

Yes Every lender is different but my lender's stance on DOS is that we don't call the loan if its performing and paid on time.

Recommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

Moreover, Mexico recently has had one of the world's best economic performances, with an unemployment rate well below that of the US.

Two questions: Is there something else  I can do before I blast their name everywhere with an accurate review of what happened and how terrible they are and/or file in small claims?

I don’t want to see you end up as a mom and pop owner with a facility that is under performing and causes a lot of headache for you.  

Generally, if you've got history of the lease performing (6+ months of pmt verification) and the lease amount is in line with the 1007, you won't have a problem finding an investor who will take this. 

I feel a more accurate headline for this post is “How I Made Me Lose My Life Savings”

And, even if you could find an appraiser to do an evaluation, it's not clear how that would help you.As you state, the motel has been shut down for nearly three years, so there's no current financial data.But even if you had recent numbers, you're planning to operate it as a sober living facility, which I suspect is a very different business model.You need to find a comparable facility in or near your local market and develop your own customized financial analysis model based upon this particular property.Then, given your business objectives (cash flow and cash-on-cash return, I assume), you'll need to back into what purchase terms you'll need to achieve those objectives.Only then will you be able to determine whether these seller financing terms will work.As far as documentation to get started, a letter of intent (LOI) is commonly used but you might move straight to a purchase and sale agreement, particularly if no agent is involved.Whichever path you choose, just be certain to give yourself plenty of time to thoroughly perform your due-diligence.

CocRoi, Cashflow, and dscr would all be helpful as well as expenses Hey Samson, I have several S8 properties in Detroit and I'm extremely open with my numbers and performance of those over the years.Happy to share if you're interested (or anyone else).