Is a pre-Tax forclosure sale possible?

[Stephen Gregory]

My wife and I have been looking for a new primary for a long time. We found a house that is going to be auctioned next week for a Williamson county tax foreclosure sale. This house is in Texas and the auction is only about a week away. 

My question is this:
Is there anyway we can legally buy the house before it goes to auction and if so how do we do that? Is this a typical kind of situation for finding a motivated seller?
Thx!