looking at my first potential ss

[Jim Stevenson]

i say potential because i've only got the homeowner's on board so far.

first of all, i'm in memphis, tn. market here is a little beaten up but not too bad in this price range.

house today priced to sell in 90 days or less is going to be in the 360-370k range, approx 10% less than what they paid for it. loan balance is 364k. arm reset in october '07 and there is also a health hardship involved. have no idea about rehab costs yet but the house is only 8 or 9 yrs old so prolly not too extensive.

i need to put together a packet for a local mortgage company and am curious to know what sort of offer to put in on the house assuming 10k of rehab costs and a conservative fmv of 360k after 10k of rehab.

using 70% tells me that my target price should be 252k. if i were to offer, the bank were to accept, i put 10k into it, and am able to sell it at 360k, i'd make about 80k after closing. can this be right. will a bank actually accept this offer.

has anyone ever bucked the percentages and basically tried to save the bank there foreclosure and closing costs? that's prolly about 70k. basically, what i'm saying is that right now it makes sense to me to buy houses like this for less profit than 80k. i'd be more than happy w/ 40-50k.

i hate banks so i'd love to gouge them as much as possible but i don't hate them enough to keep me from only making 40k. have i lost my mind or am i missing something?