A winning bidder who takes title at auction is not financially liable for any prior mortgages taken out on the property. Depending on the position of the junior mortgages the association foreclosure can be redone by the winning bidder to foreclose those out. Any prior first position mortgages would have to be resolved and satisfied in order to have sellable or clear title. A non title holder is never entitled to surplus if they were not the owner at the time of the lis pendens. They could potentially go after the prior owner for the portion of the association fees they covered as part of the sale and indirectly or directly make a claim for the overage. At PO we can introduce you to a attorney in our network who can assist which such issues. After obtaining title reach out to us so we introduce you to a lawyer who can help with Doing a proper commitment for title.

My understanding is - tax deeds no (only governmentall body liens, like city or county etc. remain). Foreclosure seems pretty much yes

Never are YOU responsible personally for leins on a property if you win it at auction. The liens that might encumber the property are on the property, not you. Now if you own the property after the auction the lien holders can technically depeding on the state and type of lien foreclose on the property to get payment for the judgment amount they are owed.

If it's a foreclosure not a tax lien and the lien that foreclosed and you won the property from is a junior lien, like a HOA/condo association lien, then those other liens can still encumber the property and jeopordize your ownership. In this scenerio you would need to negotiate with the remaining debt holders and work out a deal, or rent the place and defend any litigation until you earn money back.