This will always be the case in Real Estate (location - location - location) and there is nothing much that can be done about it.

@Eric Schenck yes I believe that would be the case in a primary residence in order to avoid the taxes.

And that could well be the case in a short sale.Do you have any contact info for the sellers? 

This isn't the case in Alabama. 

At least that is the case in Michigan!  

If that is the case in possible your property

there was the case in Washington with Joe Kaiser. who got under the skin of the WA AG and they went to war and guess who won that battle.. these folks now probably learned their craft from Joe and or are disciples of his.. like the hooked on overages folks in the mid west.But I have seen folks get some decent paydays but if your not set up with full blown accurant skip tracing a bull dog on the phone and then know how to maneuver a hostile county tax collector its a waste of money.

Non payment in and out not crazy about paying an attorney anyone could do for non payment case in court.

Willfully not accepting a deal with agreed price and terms to take off market and get the fee back would be a breach as well trying to hold out for the listing period to expire.Some might say these methods are over the top but when you have been doing high end for awhile and big money is involved you live and learn.High end in my area sells best case in 6 months and worst case 2 years.

Case in point, the park we bought in Kankakee, Illinois.