Renting short sale property during negotiation

[Ryan Fleming]

Whoa boy I'm getting prepared for a lot of information that I don't want to hear...
We have an accepted offer on a short sale as of April 28, 2010. Wells Fargo has both the first and the second on the property and has confirmed to the seller's attorney that they have all of the documentation to make a decision on our offer. We are scheduled to close on June 24th(which now seems unlikely). The sellers are willing to lease the property to us month-to-month until close, though the concern is whether we will close at all if WF doesn't accept. Since the property is scheduled for auction on August 3, 2010, we realize that the deal is dead if it comes to that. However, the opening bid is so high (+$100,000 over market value) that I doubt it will go at that sale. As I understand, MN has a 6 month redemption period so the bank may not come to the door to evict until February of 2011. Our lease would be with the sellers (owners - A) and would be per the terms that we all agree upon. My question is whether our lease will be bona fide and what kind of can of worms we would be opening up if we were to lease while the bank makes their decision. If the bank drags their feet toward the auction date we will aggressively seek another house so we should be out before the redemption period is up. The agents and seller's attorney have been gung-ho on us leasing but I suspect they're saying anything to keep us on the hook since this is their best bet to get paid.