owner of home we rent moved to different country wont be coming back

hi i live in pa we have been renting a home for a year with a lease . the owner moved out of the country and will not be coming back . we are unable to contact him the number he gave us is out of order. his creditors are calling us. we would like to buy the home but dont want to pay an arm and a leg for it as he owes alot of creditors.things are starting to go and need repair the water heater and such.i also know he owes taxes on the property . we really would like to stay here but what can we do legally before they come and take the house?

[FarmerJ]

First about the creditors any whom contact you Tell them to stop doing so , about the house it self you may just have to wait for it to go into foreclosure , any mortgage lender is legally not able to talk with you if your not on the mortgage . when and If it goes into foreclosure speak with the company who notifys you of the foreclosure (likely they will be giving you a notice to vacate when they make that contact ) speak with them about your desire to purchase and ask for Information or some one who could give you information about buying the home , likely your going to have to buy it on the open market like any one else could . If the owner of the house really lets it go then sooner or later some one will notify you that they now have legally taken home away from previous owner and are the manager for the lender , BUT now where will you be paying rent too ? untill a forclosure happens ? If your not paying the rent to any one sock it away in a bank account . were Instructions left for you as to where to send rent payment ?

we had the rent paid to the mortgage company and the said we should keep paying the mortgage but if we did that we would not be getting the creidit for the payments. what should we do go on and paying the mortgage or stop paying it ? the house is not worth what the mortgage is owed he must have refinanced it .

[FarmerJ]

dont pay some one elses mortgage . Do find out if the property is legally being managed with foreclosure having gone to the court to make them your landlord . you have a major mess . god only knows what other kinds of liens could be tied to that units title , Not knowing what your states laws are best I can tell you is spend the money on a consultation with a lawyer about your rights as renter ,