How can I acquire a home that has been slated for demolition?

[Cecilia O'Neal]

My fiance and I are very interested in starting our investment career.  I work for a real estate developer, so I have a little bit of knowledge when it comes to acquiring properties, but this one has me stumped.  

We found a house in a neighborhood we like...weeds up to the roof, everything is overgrown, and signs on the door from the Codes dept saying the house is slated for demo.  Here's the problem...we've called the Codes dept and advised we are interested in acquiring the property.  They keep telling us they only demo the house, and they have nothing to do with the sale of the property.  I've tried calling the property assessors office, I've even paid for a service to look up the owner's contact information.  Every time we find a new lead, we end up back at square one.  

Does anyone have advice on what I can do next?