Since she is officially a resident she legally has access to the unit.

“No one should be denied access to opportunity simply because they have experienced a medical emergency.”This statement is unfortunately laden with poor assumptions.

Up until the trustee sale (foreclosure auction), the home is still owned and fully controlled by the home owner.I’m assuming you’re going to be looking at off-market properties (since loan status isn’t something they advertise on the MLS so you likely wouldn’t even know if it was in default if it’s a listed property).So, in that case, you’d just negotiate a purchase agreement with the home owner and then take the contract to your local escrow/title company to open escrow. 

Hi Isaac,Personally, I wouldn't recommend this.You should focus on growing your portfolio as in "finding the next deal, getting access to cheap capital, finding partners, strategy planning, tax minimization, etc..."

Anything on the websites is going to be competitive because everyone has access and the same opportunity. 

Access is usually within a few days. 

A property that grosses $50,000 in annual income would yield $35,000 less utilities, carrying costs and never be accessible when booked. 

If your credit is strong you may be able to access an equity line for up to 95% combined loan to value. 

@Tina Chau Hey Tina, mortgages are recorded and public record most of the time, you can access this info at the county clerk website where you can sort by document type (mortgage) and see the amount taken out.

As for how quickly they can access those funds, I don't know.My personal reserves are in JPMorgan money market fund averaging 4.5%-5% today, specifically because I also bank with Chase.