Were advised to purchase a property in name only in order to be able to purchase another house, the property went to mortgagee sale due to people not being able to meet their mortgage payments, the house was sold and there is now a $100K shortfall - and is stuck because have a commitment paying mortgage on the property gained through the first property - is there a way to transfer the loan in name to the other party who originally put us through this mess

No you can't transfer a loan name to another party.

Tick

Actually you can assign a loan to another party if both the lender and the other party agree, but that doesn't seem likely in this case.

What you CAN do is sue the people who caused you this problem. If you have proof that they were supposed to pay and didn't, you can sue them for the amount you were stuck with.

Bought property ( well someone else did but put it in your name /)

Was this some "plan" to build your credit up by owning a note in your name that someone else was actually paying ?

No the broker said it was the only way to buy my first home - was to say on paper that I bought my brothers house - I don't know how he managed it.