Can I claim the foreclosure loss of an income property if there was not a mortgage?

To clarify, was this for a rental house or something else?  If for something else, what was it?

also explain how there can be a foreclosure if there is no mortgage. 

It was a rental property. I live in NYS, the property was lost in a tax foreclosure where the county takes title for payment of property tax arrears. The home was bought in a cash sale.

It was a tax foreclosure by the county.