Also, have you looked into surrounding markets on the border of Dane County?  

However if a loan is in redemption or if the 1st knows the borrower is deceased they may not let you reinstate. 99.9% of the time the bank does allow you to reinstate, they would love you to pay.- David is right when he says "fail to keep insurance and lose it all if the house burns down", If you weren't named insured or they didn't have enough coverage to payoff the 2nd you wouldn't get insurance money, BUT usually the first is paid off through insurance if the house were to burn down and the second position would now be in the first position and you'd now own the lot (which is most likely worth much more than what you paid for the 2nd note).

Therefore, the deed is in the name of the person who has been deceased for 20 years.

I'm an east-sider who invests in real estate near the MN/WI border. 

I posit that many of the things that investors do border on the unethical in at least a few peoples eyes (talking a seller into taking the smallest sliver of equity in exchange for their property so I can maximize my own gains sounds pretty unethical to me) and that the only person doing something actually illegal in this case might be the lender if they knew the intention of the buyer.

Pre probate is a nice way of saying "read the obituaries and find property attached to a deceased person".

Pressed, I share that I was born in El Salvador, and most tell me they are glad those kids are in cages at the border.

Borders Book Store has a great membership program.

But most of them are moving on while you should probably check to see if they're deceased, living somewhere else, etc.

To me that term borders on being deceptive, since it makes it sound like the mortgage is being assigned, or even assumed, when in fact nothing of the sort is happening.