How to buy a Foreclosed Condo, Owned by the Condo Association?

[Dave M.]

Hello,

I am looking to buy a condo in my building where I am currently renting.  It is a 2/2 with a great view, just completely gutted from the inside with no appliances or upgrades.  Perfect!  I figure I can fix it up and either sell it for way more than I bought it, or live in the remodeled unit myself.

Here's the problem: 

The unit is owned by the condo association (I verfified this on the tax assessor's website).  At the same time, the condo association cannot sell it because there is an existing mortgage in place with a bank.  My guess as to what happened, piecing together the sparse info given to me by the building property manager, is that the condo got foreclosed on by the bank, the bank did not pay the monthly condo fees, and the association foreclosed on the unit.  The property manager told me the unit is not for sale, because if they were to sell it to me, it wouldn't be a "clean sale".  Meaning the bank would step in and re-possess the condo?  She was very short with me and said it was complicated and would take hours to explain.

This is a great unit though, that I might be able to buy for extremely cheap and end up with a great value on my hands.  I would like to do what I can to try and make a cash offer on it.  What can I do here? Am I stuck?  I looked on the tax assessor's folio page and beyond having trouble understanding it generally, I was unable to find any bank or mortgage info on the page.  Any help?