Potential in Bankruptcy deal

[Scott Sampson]

I looked for posts on this in the forums and didn't come across any (might not have been typing in the right search words). I was leaving a nice neighborhood with a friend that just moved there recently. Their in-laws just had a house built as well - it was completed back in June. They told me that this builder recently went bankrupt after their in-laws luckily had their house finished. But this builder has two specs 85% complete but obviously sitting there since he's gone bankrupt. Apparently there's a house or two where buyers paid him for their house and he had to stop in the middle of their build as he went bankrupt. I found the lender from a different state by searching lawsuits and matched the one with this builder and their company. I'm guessing this lender has these two 85% completed specs on their books right now. 

My initial thought was looking into the best approach (if any) with this lender to get one of these two specs at a discount which would get one of them off their books. I have two rentals currently. My first thought would be to see if I can land one of these specs, have one of my contractors finish the last 15%, move in this myself, and then list my current primary as a rental property. 

Thoughts on the best way to approach this situation with lender? And is there any angle I'm not considering that would make this an unreasonable idea to pursue?

[David Krulac]

WE've tried to get bankruptcy properties and after buying and selling more than 1,000 properties for my own inventory, never sucessfully got a BK.  All deals must be approved by the BK judge, who has a fiduciary interest in getting the highest price to satisfy the creditors.  We have submitted fair offers considering the condition of the property (sellers don't keep up with the maintenace and repair as they should, for a property that they are going to lose and get no money only some debt relief.)  We have had much more sucess buying foreclosures, REOs, Sheriff Sales and Tax Sales where we have bought hundreds of properties.