We were interested in a house exactly right next to this once (the house on the right on the image). The one on the left had some people smoking pot listening music and making joke about the nice houses’ street number (420).
Zillow says “court will decide”. What does this mean? Why would this be a court sale?
It says foreclosure in the history:
OCT 13 2017 Foreclosure auction
The owner of this property has been served a Notice of Sale.
Is foreclosures only applicable to “loan defaults” or could it be something else too?
Could it be that the legal owner passed on with no living heirs so court will decide?
Could be a host of things. Bring your $2 million cashiers check to the court steps and get ready to bid on it 
not interested in that particular area, it turns out 
I was thinking coudl the neighbors nextdoor force them to sell somehow?
No, even with code compliance issues it would be difficult to achieve that goal. You get the owner to be declared the ward of the state then maybe…
This looks like a default on the loan.
NOD.
To stop auction off the owner also filed bankruptcy. But if you offer way higher the court may let you have it after paying debts and legal fees.