Hello,In north Minneapolis, where there are blocks and blocks of foreclosures, there have recently been a few non-profits that have formed, and also Habitat for Humanity is involved - they obtain funding through grants and relationships with banks, in order to buy up foreclosed (mostly REO's ) houses and apartments, so they can then sell to new families (which may also be some of the same old familes who were foreclosed on).

Try the Habitat For Humanity Resale store if one is near you. 

looked like a good deal at the time in march 2006. finished work on gutting and rehabbing property in november 2006. used same agent i used to purchase to list prop. i still do not have a buyer. the agent gave comps of around 70k so prop was listed for $62k. its in a mid to lower class section of st. louis city, however there are at least 6-7 habitat homes on the block that were built within the last 5 years.

We have tried to give the city, hud, habitat for humanity etc.

We have a 'Habitat group' up here that do in-fill new builds in very 'C areas' & they sell them very quickly & they mentioned the low to mid $100k pricing.

Aside from habitat for humanity  volunteer efforts, learning actual construction will have to be in another life time. 

I might encourage you to look at volunteering with habitat for humanity or other similar organizations.

For anyone interested in gaining hands-on construction experience, we have a few spots left in our team Habitat for Humanity build day.

But they are in neighborhoods that are renter dominated and the existing homes still sell for less than replacement costs.. so until those existing homes sell for more than they cost to replace you wont have any real building in the lower value areas unless its subsidized by Habitat or other non profits..

If appliances are over 10 years old, put in new scratch and dent or Habitat products donated from a local rehabber.