The house is in foreclosure for non payment of the mortgage, not the taxes as the taxes are paid in full. (I was just pointing out that the house my sister is staying in (NOT the one in foreclosure) is not current on the property taxes. My sister did call the auditor's office and they told her they usually do not foreclose (and yes they used the word foreclosure and not sheriff's sale) until the property owner is delinquent for 2 years. They said the owner has about three months left before that time frame. From what I read online, if I understood it correctly, they have until the bank sells the house and the foreclosure is final. According to her lease, if they leave early and break the lease they still owe the remainder of the rent they were to pay unless the landlord finds a new tenant. So either they stay there and pay rent until they are told to leave (if it comes to that) or they move out and still owe the same amount of rent for the remaining months. And if they move out they don't get their deposit back. THey could choose to not pay but the landlord would take them to court (and probably win since they have a lease they signed) and she has taken others to court for non payment of rent and won. Again, their rental home isnt' the one currently in foreclosure, it is the home next door that is also owned by their landlord. But if the owner isn't paying the mortgage on THAT home and isn't paying property taxes on my sister's rental or even the landlord's OWN personal home what are the chances she is paying the mortgage on the rental my sister lives in?

OH my gosh, you are right. They could have repaired the pipes in the basement then air pressure tested the house. They really screwed up. Neighbor who's 76 was horrified and just as I thought - and had told the plumbers - she knew more about plumbing then them. We narrowed it down to pipes inside the shower wall most likely, I pulled up the tile in the upstairs room, and imagine this - she's going to come with her crowbar and help me pull out the boards behind the shower tomorrow. No those plumbers won't be coming back, they tried to call several times this weekend. Next is are they going to bill me and do I have to pay for this garbage? I told the owner of the company when I get a bill I'll sue so they don't need to bother billing me and they'll never step into this house again - they wanted to come "have the chance to fix it." I just can't believe this... at least today I wasn't in tears. But we didn't consider pressure testing. They should have, instead they blasted an old house that was vacant through a winter with water knowing there were issues. Stupid, stupid people who could care less.

You could make a lot of money buying foreclosures if the people lived in their homes a long time and had a great deal of equity and went into foreclosure just after they paid their property taxes. But thats not who goes into foreclosure--its mostly people who have refinanced and also taken equity lines so there isn't much of an equity cushion. The really big money in foreclosures is teaching the seminars. Be careful also because there are scams that involve "investors" buying foreclosures and letting the foreclosees live there.

Where do you live that an investor would contact you out of the clear blue sky? Has he contacted your neighbors too? Do you live on a busy street or have enough land that he can put 2 or more houses on it? Before hiring a lawyer call your county planning commision and your ward alder person, tell them this guy contacted you and ask if they know why. Ask if there has been any zoning changes on nearby property etc. Something is up and it sounds fishy. He wants your house so he can get someone else out of foreclosure? That family just drove past your house and told him they want your house? If you want to keep entertaining the offer get a lawyer, make sure it an experienced RE lawyer, not a will or divorce lawyer, a Real Estate lawyer.