You can have the husband “quit Claim” his interests over to the wife. Then have the wife record the “quit claim deed”. The husbands name is off the deed but will remain on the mortgage. Now you just deal with the wife.
If the wife is willing to just sign over the property you could try to get a substancial discount from the bank by offering to buy the mortgage. Since the mortgage is in foreclosure the bank will usually discount the note just to get rid of it saving them from going through the foreclosure process.
You might be able to pick this property up for under $40k by buying the paper from the bank before you take title from the seller. Buy the paper first, then have the seller sign over her interests in lieu of you foreclosing on her.
If the bank says they would be interested in selling you the paper, then tell them you will buy it if they finance it for you. You never know, sometimes they will and sometimes they won’t. But it never hurts to ask.
I met with the woman who had called on my ad with a house that is going to be forclosed on. She has a current appraisal showing a $65,900 value. She was wrong on the amount owed on the mortgage. It is just under $50,000. The house is in great shape in a nice neighborhood. It would take $5,200 to bring the loan current. The bank has called her and said that they will hold off forclosure if she lists the property.
I discussed with her taking the deed “subject to” the existing mortgage. She is willing to sign whatever I put in front of her. Her husband is still on the deed, but she said that he has said that he just wants his name off the deed, and if they get any money out of the deal, he knows that her attorney would just get it for her any way.
My exit strategy on this would be to transfer deed into a land trust with the sellers named as beneficiary. I would then have them transfer the beneficial interest to me. I would then advertise that I had a “no-qualifying seller financed” house for sale. My sale price would be $70,000. (Anyone think that would be a problem on a no qualifying house?) The payments are $608, so I don’t think I’d be able to get much in a monthly spread. Monthly rents in the area will support a $650 payment.