How do you get a pre-foreclosure?

[Noah McPherson]

I'm a beginner, so forgive my naivety. Let's say I want a house for cheap, so I decide to look for pre-foreclosures. Can I get a list of distressed properties from the court house? I'd like to know how one does that without using paid websites. Second, after I acquire my (hopefully free) list of pre-foreclosures, how do I get into contact with the owners? Knock on the doors of some probably, but what about absentee owners? Last question. Do you have any good resources for beginners interested in learning the conversations we should be having with the distressed owners to make the purchase?