Another Bank takes a dump

I got my second short sale offer accepted by a bank today. This bank had two mortgages totaling $72k on this house. I offered them $1000, they countered with $7K and I counter-offered $5K which they accepted. I may have been able to get if for less. The foreclosure attorney had let it slip that the bank was going to walk away from the property, so I knew I could low-ball them. It's unusual for a bank to walk away from a large first like this. But the house is in a poor area and the bank must know they made a major screw-up here.

However, there are several problems with this property I still have to fix. First is the rotten NY Home Equity Theft Act I mentioned the other day. This has made Title companies skittish about insuring properties in foreclosure.

The second is that over a dozen creditors have attached liens against this house. It's appalling to me how easy it is for a creditor to attach a lien to your property. The woman that owns this house is elderly, never married, lived there all her life and has no middle initial. But she has a common first and last name. So creditors have attached liens with anyone with the same first and last name, despite some being married, many having (a multiple) of middle initials and some living in different cities. I don't know if I can even get Title insurance, so this will be a learning experience.