Posted by Carmen_FL on July 15, 2004 at 17:47:12:
Aaahhh … have warning bells gone off in your head yet?
A “seller” who is neither on the deed nor the mortgage is not a seller. Who the heck knows how he came into posession of the property, or if he did at all?
The “catch” here is that the person who is actually on the deed will need to sign the property over if you do buy it on a short sale, and the person who is actually on the mortgage will need to give you authorization to ask for a short sale. Are these the same person, or two different people? Will they cooperate? Is the person on the deed the real estate agent “friend”?
If you can’t get the person on the mortgage to agree to a short sale, but are able to get the person on the deed to sign it over, you could try to buy the note instead. The guy on the mortgage should still be happy because he would no longer be in foreclosure (unless you chose to pursue it). That’s if you have the cash and weren’t borrowing from a bank.
Or, you can buy the note and foreclose if the person on the deed does not cooperate, but that’s a whole different ball of wax.
BTW, when you’re this close to foreclosure, in my opinion, it’s pointless to worry about the Due on Sale Clause. What’s the bank going to say? “I’m foreclosing on you … but WAIT! You signed the property over! So forget it! I’ll just make you pay me the full amount! Hahahah! Oh, you can’t pay me off? So now I’ll foreclose on you twice!” Banks seldom seem to check the title on the property - they care about getting paid. I have most of my properties in Trust, even before I do my short sales, and have never had a bank ask to see the deed prior to approving the short sale.