by Nora Spero

Created on: January 12, 2009   Last Updated: January 27, 2009

You Can Make Money Buying and Selling Today's Foreclosed and Distressed-Sales Homes

It used to be that you had to have (lots of) money to make money, but in today's depressed housing market, there is a real opportunity for people who may have only a little money, but a lot of skills.

There is a simple reason for this: Although anyone may be able to buy homes for cheap money today, those homes generally need a fair amount of fixing up. The real estate market is not moving in an upward direction right now, to allow a purchaser (someone with plenty of $$) to buy, then go and HIRE OTHERS to fix it and THEN put it on the market and enable them to realize a nice profit. Therefore, someone who has a little money (good credit or cash) but CAN DO THE FIX-UP WORK THEMSELVES is suddenly in a unique and enviable position to take advantage of the depressed housing market and start building their own future wealth!

Before you go plunking down a deposit on the first foreclosure you see though, you need to educate yourself about the types of buying opportunities that exist, what they entail, and how your skills and abilities may be maximized to make profitable use of them.

There are basically three types of low-priced housing opportunities available today:

Foreclosure Auctions
Already-Foreclosed Homes for Sale
Short-Sale Homes
Each different type of sale situation has different features, requirements and protocol. Knowing the differences is vital to your success.

1. Foreclosure Auctions:

You can find listings of properties about to go to auction quite easily by looking in your local newspapers or even more easily, by simply typing the words "Bank Foreclosures" followed by your state abbreviation, on your Internet browser. Sometimes you may have to pay a fee to get these lists. Be careful here. Ask others who may have similar interests how they have fared with these types of lists you don't need to be afraid if you only paid a dollar, but you may end up frustrated if the list is for auctions that took place last month!

Once you get a hold of an auction list, pay careful attention to the entire public notice read it thoroughly. Often, to be considered as a bidder for these types of properties, you must place a deposit in escrow. This will then be used as part of your down payment if you purchase, and will be returned to you (read the fine print here for conditions) if you are not the winning bidder.

What actually happens at a foreclosure auction? The bank sends an auctioneer to the property

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