You'd really have to find out who is handling the case in order to arrange an off-market sale.

The owner was unsuspecting until he started getting notices of delinquency and distress.The handshake arrangement was that the current owner would take ownership of the property but the "friend" was suppose to keep up the property and pay the taxes.  

Sounds like you will need to negotiate some sort of arrangement to pay the back dues as part of the closing.

The longer the term the more risk there will be. 20 years is fine for a corporation as life occurrences don't really apply but carry different business risks, even so, a corporate lease option to buy arrangement is business decision.

I'd be interested to talk to you about your team and local partnerships with your out of state arrangement.

Unfortunately, a lot of upstate ny is starting to resemble Detroit/Rust Belt.  

I would encourage you to consider first and foremost: are all the partners happy with the arrangement?  

I negotiated a right of first refusal to buy out the owner entirely for a pre arranged price.

Get a Real Estate Attorney involved and make sure they explain to you what the pro's and con's are of this arrangement. 

Anyone else has experience with this type of arrangement?