Regretfully this is not the first time a second mortgage holder has shot themselves in the foot that I have seen.

I made an offer last year that died every week and was renewed for 4 weeks.
The note holder tried to deal with a private second holder who would not respond.

I finally did not renew the offer and it dies.

I then purchased the property 6 months later for about 2/3 of my initial offer.

It looked worse since landscaping maintenance had been neglected for more than 6 months.
Overgrown grass, mothered grass from leaves never removed, etc.

New sod is scheduled when it warms up, and a couple days of mowing grass and mowing up leaves made it look decent.
Luckily the inside had not been damaged, and the winterizing was done adequately when the utilities had been turned off.

They lost more money, limited the market of possible buyers, and generally messed up.

Maybe I should send them a 'thank you' gift.

Don't bother, you know it's going to get lost.