My wife and myself had friends that was a year behind in their mortgage and we needed a place to live due to our credit history we could not get a mortgage. We caught our friends mortgage up to date to save it from forecloser, only agreement we had was when the house is paid off it is ours just a varbal agrement. We have a written rental agreement. Is there anyway we can better protect ourselves? We pay the mortgage company ourselves out of our checking account. I know it was a stupid thing to do. For the past two years all the payments have been made on time, from out checking account. The friends we got the house from is getting ready to go through a devorce and we don't know what is going to happen as far as the house goes. is there any protection we could use?

You need to spend a few dollars and discuss this with an attorney.

I would recommend getting something more than just a verbal agreement. Getting a nearly foreclosed property back up means you might have spent a lot already. Just coordinate with your friend and talk things out. This might not be a good time for him with a possible divorce underway, but try to pick a suitable time to talk.