We think it is only worth about 60k at the moment.Any concerns that you may be aware of that may still be an unknown issue to us?

Just a lot of unknowns in why/how you included this option. 

An appraiser is not going to take that liability.There is no accurate data that will ever show the highest possible price, that is an unknown and I have never given such a value nor have I ever seen an appraiser give such a value.

For brand new construction on unknown dirt, a worst case scenario might include earth moving expenses 50% more than anticipated.

For an unknown reason the foreclosure process didnt fully complete and the owner maintained ownership. 

Hi Thomas,There is no really "appreciation formula", simply because "appreciation" is unknown variable.

saying you don't want to remove the tub bc you may uncover more unknown issues is like saying you don't want to go into the attic bc you're afraid the roof may be leaking and you may find water...in my opinion, resurfacing a tub that has "issues" is putting lipstick on a pig in some situations...i just called a contractor the other day asking for prices..500, but he said he'd do the tile surround for another 300 bucks....NO THANKS...i can have my contractor throw in a brand new tub for way less than that.

Without doing your due diligence though there many unknown factors here.

I was comparing someone who got lucky by buying a piece of property without knowing about investing and having it be worth a LOT, and someone who got lucky by taking a job at a unknown startup (for example, Google 10 years ago) and having his stock options be worth a LOT.Both situations are very possible, but are not the norm...What you need to realize about all the situations you described was the fact that all these people bought BEFORE the market run-up and the real estate bubble.No one here is disagreeing that if you bought pretty much ANY property in 70s or 80's, you probably have a lot of equity by now, even with the drop in home prices the past few years.What we're disagreeing with is the fact that buying just ANY property today will result in the same run-up of equity in 30 years time.

I tried calling the IRS, but without a letter from the debtor or his heirs (who are unknown), it seems like they probably won't talk to me.Anyone have experience with this issue?