An unreleased 1998 second and a dead co-owner cost me 41 days on a 74k rural buy
Small town, population under 4,000, three bed one bath at 1,180 square feet on 1.4 acres. Judicial state, so the notice had been filed 14 months before there was a sale date on the calendar, which is the only reason this deal survived at all. In a 90 day non-judicial county it dies on the first phone call.
Owner was a man in his seventies living alone in a house his wife's parents built. First mortgage payoff 61,200, which included 7,400 of arrears, escrow advances and the lender's attorney fees. I paid 74,000 and he cleared about 11,300 after costs. He asked me twice whether I was going to make him leave that week and I told him twice he'd have 60 days after closing and I put it in the contract.
Two problems, both in the title work, neither visible from the courthouse list.
One, an unreleased second mortgage from 1998, original amount 18,000, lender absorbed twice since. Almost certainly paid off in the early 2000s and never released, but almost certainly isn't a title condition. Forty one days of calls to find the records department at the successor institution, then a written request for payoff history, then a release they signed and I recorded. Cost me 90 in recording and a lot of patience.
Two, his wife died in 2011 and they held title together. No probate was ever opened, so her interest was sitting with heirs who didn't know they had it. Two adult children, both cooperative once they understood their father would otherwise be foreclosed on. An attorney handled it through the state's affidavit process for 1,150. That procedure varies a lot by state and by how the deed was worded, so it's a title attorney question every time and not something I'd guess at.
Repairs came to 14,600. Well pump, a roof section over the addition, flooring, and a service upgrade because the panel was a brand my insurer wouldn't write over. All in at about 91,000 including closing costs. Rents at 1,050 to a family that works at the plant 14 miles out, and my rough value is 118k, which in that market is a number I'd only find out for certain by trying to sell.
What nearly broke it: nothing about the numbers. I had a signed contract for four months while I chased a bank's records department, and if the seller had gotten scared and stopped answering, I'd have had a contract and no seller. I called him every Wednesday for 17 weeks. That's the actual labor in this deal.
What I'd keep: only working long-window judicial counties for anything with hair on it, and treating the weekly call as a scheduled task rather than something I do when I remember.