Pre-foreclosure Bank and Hedge Fun Tax Lien / Deed sales

[Jacob Turner]

Hi all! My first post :) 

I'm new to REI and followed the shiny into buying ($390) and attending a goofy 3-day workshop (currently sitting in Day 2 in Danvers, MA) on tax lien buying by TAX LIEN WEALTH BUILDERS, previously known as UNITED TAX LIENS, founded by Jay Drexel, who also built MarketPlacePro.

It's been almost useless, a giant patronizing waste of time (as @John Underwood and @Ned Carey has driven home - don't pay for education you could obtain more quickly and thoroughly on the googs or through networking), but an interesting exercise in appreciating their polished presentations, sales strategies, and trying to understand what these people's actual business model is by reading between the lines of all the shiny idealized and exaggerated examples of rapid wealth generation. I know they are funneling people into their $35k "Diamond Package" coaching/class/blah blah combo, but I was able to ascertain from my "strategist" Rob that this company's inner circle does in fact buy Tax liens/deeds. However, according to him, they have some magic ethereal list of certificates that are about to enter forclosure that they purchase from banks/hedge funds, as the banks/funds do not want to own them once they foreclose because it tips the balance sheet and would be considered a negative asset and would be too much work to liquidate. 

Does this make sense at all? He claims he's never been asked about the details of how TLWB acquires this packages of pre-foreclosure certificates, or the agreement they have with the bank/funds, but that they do in fact have monthly packages or certificates up for sale within the group that are purchased from the bank/funds in bulk. The idea being then that the insiders can purchase these certificates, realize the reinstated high interest rate or acquire the property through foreclosure much faster (within days to a month). He says he uses this company's resources pretty exclusively as a property acquisition tool.

So I wonder, if these pre-foreclosure certificates are available in bulk packages from banks/funds, what are they called? Could anyone with enough capital make agreements with the banks/funds to get a rolling offering of these? Does any of this seem real, or is my "strategist" full of bologna and just covering for the slime-ball objective of funnelling rich old ladies life savings or desperate people into taking out giant credit lines (through their partner finance company - Copper Rock Financials) so they can afford the $35k package. I imagine if 10 of the 35-40 people in this room do that, clearing $350k on the weekend is pretty decent. They seemingly host these events every weekend.

Thanks!

Jacob