Bank Owned Question

[Andy Houghton]

Hello,

New to BiggerPockets, new to Real Estate, but have been learning for a couple of years now. Have a short sale under our belt and successfully rented. Now looking around for another adventure.

Came across an intriguing duplex, 2-2's asking $29,000. Market looks to be $600-650/month rent for each. In digging around I discovered that it is owned by Citibank...yum. But here is where it got really interesting for me. Two doors down Citibank owns another of these (look like they were built by the same builder). There they were asking $40,000 but have recently taken it off the market. Looks like they put one up and take the other down. Citibank has been doing this for a year and a half now.

My question is, would I be better off pursuing one then the other or would there be a way to approach Citibank about both? (Greedy much?)

And in peoples experience how far under asking price will a bank be willing to entertain offers?

Is there a better way to approach Citibank directly or is a realtor a must in this situation?

Thanks for any and all information and considerations