Bankruptcy
First of all, in case you can't tell--I'm a newbie--and very green re: REI. 
We're interested in purchasing a house (for our personal use) that's currently in ch 7 BR. Owner has submitted statement of intention to surrender this property. Spoke w/ the bankruptcy trustee's ofc and was told they have no problem w/ us contacting the lender, although they didn't think anything could be done at this point.
However, from what I've been reading on these boards, I've seen advice which says to get the trustee to sign a notice of abandonment. Is this a specific document or simply a statement from the trustee confirming that the owner intends to surrender the property?
Would you still need the owner's LOA if you had this?
I wasn't sure how to even approach the trustee about this in the first place; apparently I didn't ask the right questions
:-?
Thanks.
The Letter of Abandonment from the Bankruptcy Trustee means that there isn't enough equity to make liquidation profitable enough to satisfy other creditors named in the Bankruptcy, and the Trustee is essentially telling the mortgagee, "The Bankruptcy Court has no interest in the property, go ahead and foreclose..."
You'll need for the homeowner to issue a LOA to the mortgagee which gives them permission to speak with you.
The Homeonwer should request (in writing) a workout application including an application for short sale consideration.
Then, the process of making that application is rather straightforward.