<prompt> Human: Im going to try and make this short and sweet. My wife and I are trying to buy a home in Michigan. Its a handy mans special, and its going to be bought as an investment to fix and put on the market right away. Its a two bedroom one bath and the man wanted 20k for it but we talked him down to 13k. The house needs about 10k worth alof repairs before it is ready to sell. The problem is the guy owes about 4K in back taxes and the city has a lien against it for city services ie water and sewage. The house cannot be transferred to me right away because the back taxes and lien need to be taken care of. The big problem is although the house is paid off he bought it through a land contract and never switched the deed in his name. So the taxes and lien would have to be paid off first. He doesnt have the money to pay the back taxes and lien. I suggested that I will pay the back taxes and lien off and buy the home 9k for the actually home, but I dont know how Im going to protect myself from being screwed over because if I pay off everything and buy the house the deed still has to go into his name and after then it could be put into my name because after he paid it off he never switched the deed over to his name. How do I go about this problem without being screwed over? Sorry for no flair or bad formatting I believe this is my second post, because I mostly lurk. Edit: Thanks for all the help I appreciate it.  <response>: I would find a lawyer to draw up a contract. You want to be very careful dealing with people who owe back taxes 