buying foreclosure or pre-foreclosure

[Brad Rondeau]

Hello, I was searching tulia, zillow etc for houses to buy in a town I am considering moving to.  I came across one that was being marketed by auction.com.  It says opening bid 65,000 and that 102,000 is owed. I googled auction.com and it seems most people feel they are a scam.  I'm interested in the home if I could get it for around 110,000 (zillow shows 200,000) but don't know what kind of issues it would have.  I have the address.  Does it make sense to write a letter to the occupant and see if they are the owner, and would they want to sell for 110,000?  It seems that maybe the bank now owns it any occupant is just the foreclosed owner who may be living there for free.  How do I find out if he has the right to sell?

Any thoughts would be helpful.