[url] CA seems to be that way too right now.

I;m in southern California and Zillow estimates the current value to be at 750k.

just quick follow up dean. i noticed you are from CA. that is a tax deed state. there wont be any properties with tax liens. you will need to county your county tax collector or equivalent and get the tax role list or properties subject to tax sales. when you get the list market to those owners. in CA the properties go right to deeding. therefore, if a property does make it to the sale the owner is going to lose it.

Will Barnard is in southern California and is very experienced.

I am currently visiting Mumbai so gimme a few weeks until Im back to my Sports Illustrated quality pics in CA j/k :)

c) How to best hold the property (in CA) so that it reflects both us owners?

You need to check and make sure there are no quirky laws in California protecting sellers from having to sell even with a written contract.You might stand to gain some helpful knowledge by showing a real estate litigation attorney all your paperwork for review for a few hundred and they can give you realistic options and chances of being successful with your purchase if one seller fights it etc.No legal adviceP.S.

You'd think liberal areas like Baltimore City or California which are both going broke would figure out Texas policies seem to work better.

. :) Now I'm curious if CA has a similar law.

I'm very jealous that you get to be in nice, sunny CA while I'm stuck in the rain!