Someone going into foreclosure...

[Shannon X.]

A friend told me of someone that will be entering foreclosure soon and had a question in regards to this. Let's say he owes about 200K on the house; now how do you go about on trying to purchase the house? do you buy for much less then what is owed? or do you figure out the ARV and then subtract what is owed?

Let's say someone brought it for 150K, now that mortgage he originally owed is now your problem, correct? so now you pretty much have a 350K mortgage right? now do you fix it up and try to sell it for much higher then 350K?

The house has Tyvek all around the house and has been for about a year it also needs some updating..

Also these numbers don't reflect the actual house/market, I was just trying to understand the idea and how it all works out.

Now hypothetically speaking, if I wanted to make the guy an offer what should I do before making an offer? what kind of research should I do on the house first? and what would be the best way on asking him if he would like to sell? yellow letter?

Thanks