Hi Shequila, your first step would be to contact a mortgage lender in your area to help you get pre-approved for a home loan.

Hey Will,I am in in N.C. but the deposit amount that auction.com requires for pre-foreclosure properties are set by the state.

The point I was trying to make above is:   It the Vendor wishes to be paid for such improvements, then s/he had better make those improvements before selling the property.  

Selling a house subject to the existing mortgage means the existing mortgage is NOT being paid off.

Given the crazy costs of rebuilding after Katrina, lots of areas could not support the costs of rebuilding (i.e. if it cost $75/ft2 to rebuild, but pre-storm values were less than on a $/ft2 basis), alot of people did not want to be upside down in there house.During Katrina, most banks gave borrows affected relief on paying their bills,  Most of mine gave me at least 6 months of no payments.  

We were able to get the land for "free" because we subdivided another property that was already paid for.  

Tenants paid on 9/1, I haven't had funds deposited into my account yet.

This link looks awesome because it appears as though you can search for pre-foreclosures AND probates.

Those and facebook will tell me if I want to go further with  my pre-screening.  

I love my B area because I just sit on it, tenants are amazing, rent is paid on time, and they like to do all the work themselves because they just want to be left alone except when you pick up rent.