If all of it checks out, pull the trigger. 

Iv spent hours learning about real estate investing but I am still very hesitant to pull the trigger. 

You also may want to look at California property tax rules whether this constitutes a ‘change in ownership’ that triggers a property tax reassessment, if that is of any concern.

Calling local banks and credit unions will help you understand what the lender requirements are when you are ready to pull the trigger.

@Tim White Thank you i will definitely be looking into those avenues and building up skills so when I have the money I can feel confident enough to pull the trigger.

And to be clear the bank put this into foreclosure not the HOA, so if hey needed their money they should of triggered the foreclosure and put a lien on the property.

For example, if you have one in your spouse’s name and put one in yours, they will be connected to the same home address by default which could at some point trigger an audit, and I would not personally risk this either as an investor or as a loan officer.  

The contractor I partnered with wasn't able to dedicate the time necessary to complete the project within my desired timeline and my other contractors who tied up on projects for several months, so when provided the opportunity to resell for a very small but quick profit, I pulled the trigger on the resale.

Nonetheless, if you buy right it won't matter and a little while down the line you'll be very glad you pulled the trigger when you did.

Technically that could trigger the due on sale clause in the mortgage, but I've never heard of that happening.