Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Wisconsin

A land contract can always be attempted despite the presence of a prior unpaid mortgage on the title. However, it may not work out in the long run. If the mortgage payments are not being made, the bank will foreclose, wiping out the interest of the land contract vendee. This does not stop many people from attempting it, however, even if it may be prohibited under the rules in the mortgage documents. Most mortgages contain a "due on sale" clause, allowing the bank to call the entire note due if any sort of sale takes place, including a land contract, although the presence of this clause does not mean that that bank will always choose to enforce it, particularly if the payments continue to be on time. Suffice it to say that anyone purchasing via land contract under these circumstances is taking a major gamble with this investment and should only enter into such a transaction under the guidance of a real estate attorney who is highly experienced in matters of insolvency and bankruptcy. The ideal lawyer would have experience as a bankruptcy trustee, since this would expose him to nearly everything which can go wrong with such a transaction. The list of thing which can go wrong here is much longer than I have mentioned here. Please be aware that my responses to you in the public web forum do not make me your attorney and that I am not representing you or taking any action on your case. Instead, these answers are intended for public educational use only and may also contain lawyer advertising materials. Regardless of this, however, you are still welcome to contact me during business hours at my in Racine if you still have questions, or see me on the web at www.jayknixonlaw.com. For a list of my other answers on Law Guru, please see my profile link here at lawguru.com.