real-estate property debt foreclosure
Inherited property with two unknown lien holders. What should I do?
<p>My mom passed away 8 years ago and left her house to my brother and I. But since then, we haven’t been able to do anything with it because it has 2 liens on it. So it sits there unoccupied after all these years. </p>

<p>Back around 2007 during the housing bubble, my mom used her house as collateral and purchased 2 other houses. When she passed a way, the debt from those houses created 2 liens. Shortly after they foreclosed and sold, therefore (from what our lawyer tells us) the liens should’ve been removed. So we tried to contact the two companies that held these liens to get everything smoothed out. To no avail, they both went bankrupt. We hired a lawyer to help us find the companies that took over the liens, but even our lawyer couldn’t figure it out.</p>

<p>$30,000 later, in debt from lawyer’s “research”, no information on the liens, rejected by the judge, and no house, we decided to call it quits until we had the money to hire a lawyer again. I’m worried that so much time and money has gone by that we need to figure this out before it gets auctioned off. So my question is, what can I do to find who the lien holders are, and remove them?</p>

<p>Better than hiring an attorney who, as you now realize, will charge you by the hour and guarantee nothing. I recommend you approach a title and closing company with the same question. Even better, have a real estate agent do it. Or have a purchase and sale contract in hand signed by a buyer. The title company will do the research because they are on the hook for the title insurance against future claims and the closing company will be motivated to get a resolution because they will earn their closing fees when the transaction closes.</p>

<p>Edit: I also like the "sue for quiet title" approach mentioned in one of the comments. I'm surprised your attorney didn't suggest that.</p>
