Buying long-time-foreclosed home before it's listed

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I've been eyeing this one property. It's been vacant for many years and I can see it foreclosed in 2014! The owner passed away and the house does need work, but I have a good idea about the work involved. The most activity I've seen at the house is about a year ago, a moving truck showed up and emptied the house of all the remaining items... But why hasn't the bank listed the property in the last 5 years? Is it a bad idea to call up the bank and put in an offer before it's listed? Ps. It's on my street and it's the only other multifamily on a street of mostly well maintained single family homes.