Can I buy a pre-foreclosure for less than the outstanding amount ?

[Alfredo Crespo]

Hi I am new to real estate, and i am having a hard time understanding how to negotiate a pre-foreclosure, my question is pretty straight forward. " can I buy a pre-foreclosure for less than the outstanding balance?" .

So estimated values is 160k, outstanding loan amount is 96K, so at this price the home is a 60%, now everywhere i read the benefits for the owner to go with pre-foreclosure is to safe credit and walk away with cash. so in order for the owner to walk away with cash i will have to buy it for more than 96k, and it wont leave me room for repairs, interest and fees of hard money etc.  

or can you subtract repairs and other cost from the outstanding balance 96k - $$$ (repairs, etc) .  

sorry if this is so simple for you guys but this is confusing, and I already read as much as possible about how to negotiate pre-foreclosures, or how to negotiate a purchase agreement and as you can see I am still confused, so i decide to create an account to see if you guys can share your knowledge with me. thank you very much in advance I really want to learn this.