Usually the next of kin of a deceased relative. Sometimes folks lose their jobs and can’t keep up their properties. in most small boroughs it is not going to be a speculator, although, in very rare cases, it might be a large conglomerate out of state that has bought a bunch of houses and can’t move them, but that usually happens in neighborhoods that are “up-and-coming”. sometimes they are bank owned if a homeowner abdicates, and the house is worth less than the mortgage.