Tone it absolutely does happen more then you would think. Be careful. A very easy step you can take is to post the address on here and I can check the tax roll to see if there are any notices of default to give you a little sense of whether the owner has been lagging on payments.
Also you can check the county tax assessor to make sure the owner is paying property taxes.
As far as finding a newer home, I would say it all depends on where you are looking.
