I was hoping someone in this user group could provide their thoughts on a short sale that I have been pursuing for several months with a seller.  Ocwen holds the mortgage on the house and the IRS has over $300k in liens on the house for back taxes.  In August, 2014, I entered into a short sale real estate contract with the seller.  Per the seller's listing agent, the contract along with all of Ocwen's short sale documents were to be submitted in September.  A few weeks went by and I left a number of voicemails and sent emails to the real estate agent and the seller's attorney for a status. Weeks went by, until I finally heard from the real estate agent and the seller's attorney that the reason they have not been in contact with me is that the seller has gone MIA.  They could not locate her.  I should have mentioned earlier that the seller does not live in the house that I am pursuing - it's been vacant for over 2 years.

I then hired my own attorney to do some research to see if he could turn up anything.  Basically, he said in reviewing the title report on the property there was a Lis Pendens filed in July of 2008 and that was later released in July 2013 by the court for failure to prosecute.  He also said there is no legal action pending in the court on the property and that the disappearance on the part of the seller is probably due to the fact that there is nothing to compel her to move the deal forward.  I disagreed with him in that I would think any rational person would want to be relieved of some of their financial problems and credit issues.  But I guess, this seller is not rational.

So that's basically it.  Ocwen is just sitting on a Zombie house, there is no foreclosure action pending on the house, the owner is missing and the house just sits there empty.  I even tried to get some dialogue going wih Ocwen about buying the mortgage outright (in cash) from Ocwen but I got lost in the machine after countless conversations with people.

Any thoughts or suggestions.

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This is not unusual. Desperate people do desperate things. I am also not surprised that Ocwen will not engage with you.  They have so many problems themselves they are barely keeping their heads above water.  It is very likely this property wil work its way through Ocwen's system and eventually go to foreclosure.  It's best if you buy it at the Trustee's Sale.

Well, the thing I see that compels Ms. Seller to run is the IRS debt.

"someone" either has to pay the liens or obtain a "lien release" from the IRS.

So she may have put her head in the sand.

As well, if the seller is gone and the bank wants to foreclose... tax liens override mortgages.

So, in the interim period, IF the IRS won't grant lien releases then even Ocwen can't have the property.

We just finished one w/IRS liens and it wasn't pretty.  This had already been foreclosed but the liens remained.

We ended up having to wait it out...It was supposed to be a quick 10 day close that ended up taking 6 months.

We could not have gotten the lien releases without guiding the seller...and getting signatures for documents.  So, I'm thinking if your seller is MIA you won't be able to complete your purchase.

Just giving you some insight from my recent experience.

Good Luck!

Thanks for the responses and your thoughts.  I guess the point you make about the IRS liens is potentially the reason why the Lis Pendens was released in July 2013.  I could not understand why Ocwen would release the foreclosure 5 years after the original foreclosure filing.  But perhaps, once they got a good luck at the $300k in IRS liens it did not make the foreclosure viable.  In addition to IRS liens, there was a $37k lien by the Condo Association and over $400k in Judgments by the State of NJ.  I don't think the judgments are attached to the mortgage but it just goes to show there was zero equity in the house.  Based on comps and the current condition, my estimate is the house is worth around $400k. 

Are there any other possible angles I can pursue short of adverse possession?

in MO & KS...any circuit court judgments have to be paid by the seller to have the capability to send any real estate.Don't know about your state. Just throwing that tidbit out there. =/

I would skip trace the homeowner to proceed with the short sale.

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