A Steal, or an Ordeal?

Jurgensen explained that instead of using the advanced lockboxes that allow agents who participate in the local multiple-listing service to access homes (and that track each visit), some agents use cheaper, less-sophisticated lockboxes for unoccupied homes. Anyone who wants to get in needs to call the listing agent's office to get the combination. That's an impediment to showing the home and a shortcut that an eager seller would not tolerate, but that a faceless institution might never notice.

There's a fast-growing crop of businesses offering to sell lists of bank-owned homes. One of the best known is RealtyTrac, which charges $49.95 per month (after a seven-day trial) for access to its database of more than 650,000 properties in (or near) foreclosure nationwide.

But you don't need to pay for such leads. Banks typically hire real estate agents to put their properties in the multiple-listing service. That means any agent who belongs to that MLS can search on your behalf at no charge for properties that are coded as a foreclosure, pre-foreclosure (as noted by the seller) or a short sale in which the bank agrees to accept less than the full mortgage amount the seller owes.

Most of the interest in buying foreclosures is coming from people who intend to live there, said Jurgensen, who has listed some for banks. Investors, so far, aren't swooping in to grab deals. "I haven't had a single investor buyer," he said. "I don't think they're buying."

If you plan to make an offer on a foreclosed property, insist on a professional inspection. Banks typically won't lower their price in response to the inspector's report, but you need to know if a house that has been vacant for months has heating, plumbing and electrical systems that can come back to life once your name is on the deed, or how much it will cost if they don't.

Don't buy a foreclosed home without taking the optional title insurance policy. That would protect your investment if old liens, such as those from unpaid contractors, appear after closing. As part of your negotiations, ask the bank to pick up the cost of your policy.

Finally, be prepared to wait. A bureaucracy won't jump on your purchase offer the way an eager homeowner would. It can take weeks to get a response to your offer.

If you go about the deal as an educated, hard-nosed buyer, you very likely will know more about that home and its real value than the seller does.

E-mail Elizabeth Razzi atrazzie@washpost.com.