Can I buy my first home (to live in) @ auction in California

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My wife and I live in the SF Bay Area, where I was born and raised. I am an attorney and I make killer money for a 27 year old ($170k +bonus of at least 45k), next year I'll make more ($190k + bonus of at least 50k).

BUT we live in the Bay Area, where prices are outrageous and every time we think of buying a single family home we get frustrated. Prices are still insane here, and it simply isn't fair. We just want to buy our first home, and god damn it, I am "rich" by most standards, but yet I can't live in a nice home.

If a decent 3/2 in the East Bay costs $600k, and $800k(!!!!) on the Peninsula, a movie theater ticket should cost $50.

Frankly it is very upsetting to see how crazy it is, but this is a great place to live so we aren't going to move to a place where $300-400k buys us a mansion.

So I am trying to think of a way to get us in a great single family detached home in the $300-500k range, I was thinking: FORECLOSURE AUCTIONS!

Would this be a good idea? Would I even get homes here in that range that would normally sell for 600-800k? When you see the notice of sale in the paper, you can do your homework on the property (if it is decent), but can you easily find it if there are any senior liens to the one being sold?

What scares me other than that is that I think you become responsible for unpaid property taxes AND you have to have serious cash at auction and then close soon afterwards, which I don't know enough about and seems like I can't exactly do.

Please help.

Thanks.