Shadow Inventory REO

[toganet]

Anyone here have experience with so-called "Shadow Inventory" in bank-owned properties?  There is a vacant house in my neighborhood that I would like to flip, and I've hit a dead end.  According to public records it is owned by Wells Fargo.  It looks like it foreclosed and then it was "pending sale" (perhaps from auction) and then the listing removed (this was late 2015).  I was able to locate the previous owner, and found she passed away in 2011.  Taxes are all up-to-date according to county records.

The house has been empty the entire 3 years I have lived on the street.  It is not listed on Wells Fargo's REO site, so I am not sure how to proceed.

Any ideas or experience with properties in this kind of limbo?

[Another Reader]

Wells Fargo likely does not own the house.  They likely are the servicer of the loan and the house is owned by Fannie, Freddie, or a large investor in MBS.  Unlikely they will talk to you unless the foreclosing entity decides to retail out the house.

There really is very little shadow inventory.  Some of it was sold at retail, a lot was bulk sold to investors.  With prices going up in most markets, some large fund and corporate investors are buying up the remaining packages of properties.

The name on the Assessor's records may not reflect the true ownership.  Pull the deeds from the Recorder to see if you can reconstruct the ownership history.