It's up to the bank to foreclose--not you or any other potential buyer--so you can't move the process along if the bank doesn't want to or care about doing so. You can speak or negotiate with the bank, let them know of your interest, what you're willling to pay, etc. and see if you can't motivate them to try to hurry the process along, but it's up to them to decide whether or not to do this.Furthermore, even if the bank wants to expedite foreclosure, it may be unable to do so. First, because there are so many distressed, defaulted upon, and foreclosed properties, the courts are overwhelmed in many areas, and the sheer number of foreclosures trying to get through the system is causing backlogs and delays. Second, as you probably know from reading the newspapers, many banks committed paperwork errors or violations in their loans or foreclosure efforts (such as "robosigning"), and those procedural problems complicate and delay foreclosure.So most you can do is try to convince the bank to do what it can to expedite matters, but even if it is willing to, it may not be unable to do so.