Leasing while Refinancing (short sale of the house)

Hello,
We recently received a notification from an Attorney's office that the house we are renting is going to be foreclosed soon and we might be asked to leave anytime. Surprised, we called our landlords (owners of the house) who told us they were as surprised as us. Apparently, they decided to move out of state and lease their house while their refinancing application (from FHA to conventional I think) was being processed. Apparently, this is illegal and is the same thing as "defaulting" , even though they 've been making the payments regularly. They are battling to recuperate their house, and it is not looking too good.
We are thinking one good option for us (not being kicked out would be a very good one ) would be to offer the home owners to sell us the house on a short sale before it forecloses and their credit takes a hit.
Any advice/input on this case? I know the bank that "owns" the house is the one that ultimately makes the decision if a short sale is possible, but they won't give us any info.
Thanks for any help on the subject.

[AFFA]

I wish to inform you that you may first discuss with the house owner regarding short sale. In this regard if house owner agrees then you may discuss with the bank about short sale. Short sale is a method which may be used to avoid foreclosure. In this, you may argue with the bank that instead of adopting costly foreclosure procedure bank may agree to short sale.

AFF