Buying a bank owned property

[Joshua Quinn]

I want to start out by apologizing if this is the wrong thread to post this question under or if a similar answer has already been gleaned under a different discussion.
I am extremely new to buying and renting properties, so new that I actually have never bought my first piece of real estate. I have however stumbled upon a bank owned property near the University I am considering attending. This property is listed at a sale price of about $17,000 but as an estimated value of $160,000. I have yet to see the property but am sure I can expect some damage to have been done to bring the value so low and have it still on the market for the past 100+ days.
I was wondering if anyone may be able to tell me what to look for and ask about in regards to this property when I talk to the bank about it and when I go to look at the property. Is there anything I should be looking for that would make this an all around bad decision to buy?