@Pat Snyder I would suggest reading through other Foreclosure and Pre-Foreclosure posts on BP regarding pre-foreclosure in AZ because there are laws that may impact what you can do and how you approach the owner. Might want to read this post in particular, though not pertaining to AZ specifically.
(https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/41/topics/124199-what-to-say-to-a-homeowner-in-default)
I'm not familiar at all with AZ pre-foreclosures but there are others on BP much more knowledgable than me that could weigh in. That's not to say you can't approach the owner but you would need to be very careful about what you say or how the dialogue is perceived. If you only said you were interested to see if they would be interested in selling the property, you might be OK. Another idea, I'm not sure if you could find out who the owner's attorney is in the foreclosure but maybe you could contact them to see if the owner is open to an offer.
Best of luck. Let's us know how it plays out.