Investing in Real Estate But A Bit Freaked Out. Please, help Reddit!

I'm looking to buy a cheap peice of land near my college to live on. The university is a bit in the sticks, so land is fairly cheap. Here's where I'm at:

I saw a posting on Craigslist for a bit over a half acre for $2,400. I sent the listed number a text, and I also Googled the phone number. It belongs to a lawyer who runs a tax lien agency. I offered $2,000 on Friday, and lawyer man said he would contact the owner. The owner agreed to the price today, but they want to do a quitclaim deed.

The lawyer is going to act as the is intermediary party. He wants me to send a cashiers check to him, in the name of the land owner, and he will do the swap once he gets the deed.

I double checked online, and the owner is indeed the owner, but there is no guarentee with a quitclaim (right?) in case some one else happens to also have a claim to the land.

Am I setting myself up for trouble?

Other Info: Lawyer guy claims that the owner got the land via a tax deed.

The last sale of the property (to the curren owner), according to the internet, was not at arms length.

I'm working on checking back taxes.