Having a straw man complicates the chain of evidence.So, I can see why a conventional lender may require the buyer to contract directly with the seller.

We consulted an attorney, and at his suggestion researched the chain of title way back to empty farmland.

The repairs truly are minor: there is a section of a wooden fence leaning against a chain link fence that needs to be taken to the curb for trash pick up (it is not attached to anything), the concrete floor of the laundry room needs to be painted, the laundry dryer vent was installed backwards, weeds need to be pulled from near the crawl space vent, the front porch railing needs to be scraped and painted, and a few other things along those lines.

The wife comes home to find the husband started a fire while trying to cook a meal.

Any improvements that you make, other than something like fix a leaky roof, can not be recovered, if you subsequently lose the property back to the former owner or the former owners heirs.I've seen properties with multiple tax sales in their chain of title, ALL of the tax sales need to be cleared, not just the most recent one.Many counties even for judicial sales only do one owner searches instead of full title searches so they can save money of searches. 

Do you know how to take meal deductions?

I agree with Account ClosedGoing forward, if you want to invest in SF, make sure you stay at the high end of the food chain and invest in condo...

You know how long it takes us to fill it without us having any company (we do eat our a fair amount (more than 1/3 of the meals), but still)? 

Pay for the meal and you essentially got what you wanted.

Nat, based on the property information you provided me I looked at the chain of title and understand what happened.