They eventually stole everything that was supposed to stay with the home, tore the crap out of the yard, did stupid things like unhooked the sink stoppers, and unhooked the toilet chains so they would continually run, left the sinks all on and turned the faucets onto the counter tops (so when the water was turned on they would pour everywhere), they also did more serious things such as disconnected power from the A/C unit, left exposed and live wires from the shed and front porch lights that they stole. Ugh… what a mess.

However, despite all of that my wife says that she’d do this again. It took the bank 3 months to come back and agree to our initial offer. When the home was in pre-foreclosure, they had it listed at $225,000. 2 years later, we ended up purchasing the house for $85,900. It has been appraised at $140,000 in current market conditions.

Although monetarily it was very much worth it, we did have some stress in our life waiting so long to get an acceptance (or any kind of response from the bank (or our crappy realtor))(thus having to go month to month in our apartment and paying nearly double for rent), and every time we visited the house we saw more things missing that shouldn’t have been. It’s hard to say for sure however if I would do it again, because even though our home is theoretically worth that much, we don’t see that value in our daily lives. I would almost rather not have those same worries, and not go through the lengthy process.

Now if we’re talking an investment property, go for it. But you must watch the prior owners like hawks, they will take copper pipes, they will take doorknobs, they will take drawers and cabinet doors, and anything else. (Although I’m sure some have more self respect)

We continue to be patient and are waiting for another house to put an offer on, but it is not entirely a buyer’s market in every market.

As far as buying a foreclosure, regardless of market conditions, always look for a home that is sound structurally. If the home appears to be a disaster area, but is still structurally sound, that provides an opportunity for a motivated investor. A lot of buyers will stay away from homes that are not cosmetically clean because they don’t want to put in a ton of work. The willingness to work is a must if you want to turn a profit on a foreclosure.

I suggest staying away from homes that are more than 15 years old, due to problems with age-related failures. You do not want to mess with a furnace, roof, etc. that are more than 15 years of age.

Talk to the neighbors, and make sure they’re not heroine addicts! You may laugh but this happened to my wife & I. Buying a foreclosure can get you into some areas that may be less than desirable, even if they do not appear so at first glance. After living in our 1st home for 4 weeks, we woke up on a beautiful Saturday morning to find 4 cop cars lining our front property line and walking, guns in hand, down the street to bust up a meth lab down the street! I know it sounds like I lived in downtown Detroit…it wasn’t that bad…my point is, you do need to research the neighborhood before buying! Trust me!

With a lot of hard work, my wife & I were able to make a $15,000 profit in just 2 years…which really helped us out.