How should I go about finding a house before Foreclosure

[Jenny Lind]

I will be getting a little bit of money, and want to use it to buy a home cash. Credit is not great. I was hoping to find someone that was about to go into foreclosure to avoid competition from other buyers.  I do know there are risks. The area I live in has a shortage of homes due to 2 major fires.  What I did was looked up notices of default at the court house, but I am wondering if there is a certain date I should search back to, or if there are any tips or tricks to doing this