As discussed in the previous thread on this topic, approach the owners and try to strike a deal with them on a short sale. If you really love the place try to make some sacrifices to them to incentivize them to go with you. Make it worth their while. Approaching them is not going to be easy, people in distress are very challenging to deal with and often feel victimized even if it is their own fault. So when a complete stranger approaches them to offer much less then the debt they have in exchange for the keys to their home, more often then not the result is a negative outcome. However if you can have some form or discourse with them then you can try to convince them to sell the home short. They will most likely want to select their own agent, and if they do that then their agent will most likely tell them to put it on the open market instead of limiting the transaction to just you. So you need to be very persuasive or make it worth their while or hope that they are boobs.
Alternately you can see if it will go to foreclosure and if it does then try to get a hard money loan, buy it at the auction, wait 6 months, then refinance the home with a standard mortgage to pay off your hard money loan. If that is the route then offer the owners some money to see if you can perform an inspection on the home and make sure you do all of the title checks and such.
