Bud is right. To take this a bit further, (and this is general law, which may or may not be the law in your state) when Dad died, title to the property vested in his heirs at law, subject to creditor’s rights, and also subject to any will he might have left. If no estate is opened, either by a creditor, or for the purpose of probating a will, within some period of time, the heirs can pass title by deed. The affidavit that Bud referred to establishes the necessary facts to establish title in the heirs, and is recorded with the deed from the heirs. Therefore, it’s important to find out from the daughter, who survived Dad besides her. This would include any spouse, children, or children of pre-deceased children.
If the daughter is the only heir, ask her (or them, if there are other heirs) if she will quit claim the property to you. If she says yes, take her to a lawyer to prepare the deed and whatever is necessry in your state to pass title to you. You will definitely need a lawyer to make sure this is done correctly. Then you will be in a position to go forward and try to salvage equity, if there is any.
Found vacant house- talked to neighbors(daughter) - Dad (owner) died. She says there’s a 1st and 2nd and there is no equity. chkd at CH and Title Co.- dad bought house new '67 for 17,500. '81 took out 2nd for 20,000- Western Savings(Ore corp. no longer in business)(can’t find out who took over). The house is assessed for 118,200. -2100sqft- should sell fixed up $139,000. Can’t get a copy of the original deed from court house, they have nothing before '79
Crossland Mortg paid the taxes for '98. Put a call into Crossland- on their machine. Apparently no one is making pymts, daughter thinks it’s a waste of time. Can’t make a deal with daughter, not in her name(didn’t go to probate). I don’t want to create a red flag and have the bank do a NTS,would like to buy it before.
Would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks…
Instead of buying the house, try to buy the mortgage. If its in default, the lender may be willing to assign (sell) the loan to you at discount. Once you control the mortgage, you have some control over what happens to the house. If nothing else, if you buy the loan at a big enough discount, you can foreclose and get paid at the courthouse steps. Remember, just because you bought the loan at discount, the borrower still owes the holder of the note and mortgage(now you) the full amount due(principal balance + accrued interest + late fees, etc). Its worth looking into. I did this once and made out real well.
Each state has laws as to the rights of heirs when someone dies without a will. Very possibly the daughter is the only heir. In many state you can do an affidavit of heirship to transfer title without filing probate. Find that out first and contract with the heir. Then go find out what needs to be done with Crossland Mtg. They are probably successors to the mortgage from the RTC debacle.