I’ve heard of buying pre-foreclosures, anyone have experience?

[Taylor McClure]

I was talking to a man a week or so ago, and he said that his friend used to buy properties that were a few days prior to foreclosure. He said it kept the bank from having to execute the eviction process, it salvaged the owners credit by not having a foreclosure on it, and the buyer gets it a much lower cost, because of the leverage of the impending foreclosure. Does anyone have experience doing this, and know how to go about it? Is it public record that I can find online? Or is that something you have to find on your own by dropping off business cards?