[quote=fredo4]Guido contacted a realtor friend of his. He told us that since the house is still legally owned by our landlord , we need to talk to him (not the bank) about doing a short sale before it goes to auction. The owner would then have to talk the bank and see if the bank would go along with the idea. Does this sound right to you?[/quote]

SOunds about right to me.
Recall that many people doing loan mods or short sales are listed as “in-foreclosure”. During this time, they are still the owners. It makes sense to address the deposit but you can’t really buy it from anybody but the current owner.