Pre-Forclosure NEGOTIATIONS

[Tim Browne]

Hi,

I new to the home buying scene. Me and my new wife are planning on buying a home in our area to live in, not so much to flip and resell immediatly. Heres my deal. After looking up some pre-foreclosed homes via yahoo i found a home.

The home is advertised through a realtor for around $500,000. the same home is also listed on the pre-forclosed websites for around $300,000. We contacted the realtor selling the home and asked her about the home and mentioned it was listed as pre-forclosed. she was speachless and told us she'd get back to us and double check. she did, and verified it was in pre-forcloseure and she showed us the house this weekend. So my question is, what do i do know?

- the home was definetly vacant, there was no furniture, no heat turned on and there were a few scattered items around the home, looks like someone left quickly.
- the realtor said someone was living there, but i seriously doubt it.
- we our interested in the home but it will definetly require some remodeling.
- the realtor made us sign a letter stating if we purcshed this home, she would be the only realtor that we could go through before she would show us the place.

Obviously i will need to have a professional inspection done.

We are able to put down %20 on a home purchase and our max price range is about $340K. with the kitchen needing a FULL remodel and some bathrooms too if we paid the pre-forclosed price and done the remodel we would hit our budget limit.

So after reading some healpfull hints on this site im still in doubt on how to proceed.

do i hire an real estate attorney to check all everthing on the home or do i just go through the realtor for all paper work?

Can i offer less than the amount listed on the pre forclosure websites? thats very important.

Should i try to deal directly with the homeowner? because now i cannot go through another realtor.

Our realtor seemed nice and cooperative, but shes also trying to sell the home , so im not sure about her upcoming advice.

I really cannot offer any more than what the pre-forclosre price is, whats my next move?

thanks in advance for any advice.