Wholesale Property Beginning a Tax Lien Certificate Foreclosure

[Jon DeCamp]

The following are questions I have in relation to potentially putting a contract on a property to wholesale a deal:

I came across a property the owners of which received a Summons & Complaint for the purpose of foreclosing on a Tax Sale Certificate and they must respond within 35 days of the filed Complaint. Some questions:

1) Foreclosing for a tax sale certificate is different than a lender foreclosing, correct? My understanding is that the lien for a tax sale certificate specifically involves property taxes or water or sewer taxes - or any combination thereof as compared to defaulting on payments to a lender, correct?

2) Once the Complaint is filed (which it has been), is that considered being in pre-foreclosure proceedings or is it considered foreclosure proceedings? (and I'm not sure of the difference, actually). I'm wondering when the legal proceeding of foreclosure will prevent a wholesale deal from happening at all, if at all.

3) Can the owner of the house that has received the Complaint sell their house to a cash buyer - the main question ie. is the Complaint a good indication of a potentially motivated seller, the kind who wholesalers love to find, or is it too late at that point to strike a deal?