buying at court house

i see all these houses that are going to be sold at the court house in the paper. they only have like 3-4 weeks till the auction date so that doesnt give to much time to do a short sale. how does this whole process work? does anyone specialize in buying like this?

also i heard that after jan 1 anyone homeowner who has to do a short sale, they are responsible for the rest of the debt and have to pay that off over the years. will this effect investors at all do you think?

When u negoate with the lenders loss mitigation dept. Make sure the price is settled as full payment.