Trying to make sense of county and other records on foreclosures - help?

[Julie Daniels]

I'm a total newbie, and I'm finding a lot of information...but I'm having trouble figuring out what it means...

For example, 

There's a SFR in Madison County, IL, that Foreclosure.com says is in Pre-forclosure

• Market Value: $124,000

  Published: 2/11/2014

  Loan Amount: $66,326
  Loan Date: 12/18/2002

and Zillow also has that it is in Pre-foreclosure status.(today 1/8/2015)

The county assessors office gives me the name of the current owner (for Tax Year 2014!), which I look up on at the County Records office to find

12/23/2013	(owner)			RELEASE OF MORTGAGE
12/17/2013	(owner)			LIS PENDENS NOTICE OF FORECLOSURE

I also find a newspaper listing of foreclosures 

Dec 12, 2013

• Midfirst Bank V. (owners) $50,549.23, address of SFR, 13-CH-949

So my questions are...Do these people still own this house? If so, what's with the foreclosure??  And why is the newspaper foreclosure date before the Lis Pendens even? And what does the amount listed in the newspaper foreclosure listing represent?

Obviously this is historical data and not a house I'm currently looking at, but I just want to be sure of what I'm looking at...

What I'm looking for is a SFR that is in Pre-Forclosure with a decent amount of equity to be able to buy under market value and rent or flip, depending on the house.

I appreciate anyone who took the time to read this, and appreciate even more anyone who can help me out. 

Thanks!!

Julie