First find out what the debt is they owe. They might not volunteer that to a stranger. Hence, build some trust first by talking about life in general or their situation and how you can relate.
At some point in the conversation, ask: "If I paid cash and paid quickly what is the lowest you would accept ?"
if she/he says $268,000, then ask: "So, you are telling me if I paid you $267,000 cash tomorrow you would not accept it?"
She/he will likely say, "well, yeah, I'd take that too.".
Then again, ask " Again, if I paid cash and paid quickly what is the lowest you would accept ?"
She/he will state some final figure, say $255,000. And not a penny less.
Then chat a bit more about her/him and the debt story and the true property value .. then decide what to do next.
In most cases you will find that the debt exceeds the property value by a large number, because they got a 90-95% mortgage and the property dropped in value and/or it needs some substantial work. At that point the bank has to force the asset into foreclosure and that takes a while. You can then send in your bid, later, to the bank.
This assumes you are an expert in the area and house type as it is hard from afar for a wide variety of assets in large urban area to precisely asses what a property is worth. Maybe it is worth only $220,000 .. maybe $300,000 .. and that is where you will spend (or waste ?) a lot of time.
