Yes you can look through the property records at the courthouse and look for evidence of seller financing.

When we started pulling economic data for the area it became evident the local economy is in a long-term decline - reliant on an over-exploited natural resource.

They're tough to value due to lack of "market evidence", but from an income approach stand point they can create substantial value.

You can create a cap rate for one, but it's a wild guess when the information to determine your expenses is much more evident than with a commercial multi-family.There's so much information on BP.

The answer may become more evident as you get more local knowledge.

For example our land evidence records are at the city/town level instead of the county level like most of the rest of the country.

Around here, we call that "evidence".

If a pattern of looking the other way becomes evident, i'm confident that lender will be eventually working under a cease and desist order or worse, boxing up their belongings for their next gig.A subject to is not business as usual for a lender.

The great news is that with time many of these structures become evident simply through problem solving.

Not to make this thread totally about protesting property taxes, but you can and should do it every year, and if you have evidence (comps, photos, etc) you will usually get the increase lowered or completely vanquished.