If you purchase before a trustee sale, Is it a short-sale? Short-sales take a pretty long time to close if they don't foreclose on the property.
In the auction the property is free and clear of the second and of leins, back property taxes and so on.
At times lenders or banks have a reserve on the property. If the bids don't meet the reserve it the property will not be Sold.
Best bet you will get a better deal depending if it doesn't sell in an auction and it returns on the market as an REO.
I need to get some sleep.
Hope this helped.

The reason that so many bank owned are not sold at auction is because the pricing likely has the first, second, and other arrearages attached to the sale price, making it much better to wait out the auction, and go in when it's listed with the bank at a realistic price. Opinion.

It really depends on the property and it's true status. The realtor that you are working with would have to research the individual property to determine who the true owners are and if they are willing to sell immediately or if, due to legal reasons, they have to wait to sell at the trustee sale. Each home would have to be handled based on it's individual specifics. Once a determination is made that the individual owners are willing to proceed, then the agent helping you can assist in doing the correct paperwork to help you put in an offer on the home, then negotiate the offer and get you to a smooth closing. Do keep in mind that many of these homes need some work and you may not be able to move in right away until enough of the work is done so that the home passes the municipal inspection and you can get an occupancy inspection done and then get the occupancy permit. You also need to recognize that in many cases, if work is required, you may not be able to get a "regular" residential loan. The FHA guidelines are being changed however to bring back the loan packages that allow for "rehab" loans which would help in a situation like this

Well, one way is to do a short sale on the property. Too long to explain here, but if you want to call me on Thursday i would be happy to talk more with you about this. Thanks, Pete. 314-852-3862

I don't have a specific address in mind, just seeing a lot of properties that are in this level of foreclosure. I was just curious what the best route to take would be if I was interested in one of these properties. Thanks for your advice, it is greatly appreciated!

What is the address? I can look it up.