I lived in Germany for a while and appreciate the strong social safety net and lengthy vacation times. 

Redemption is only a major risk if the record owner claims defective notice and $50K + equity at stake.The way I work these is to skip trace and buy any and all rights for redemption and I also claim overbid, thereby working both sides like a Russian Military Arms dealer.

Maybe we didn't get the full picture here but I'd suggest you have a bit of a safety net.

Your best safety net is too buy right, keep your leverage at a safe margin, and try to ride out any  market downfalls  by lowering rents, offering incentives when you do have vacancy's, and trying to manage through the tough times. 

Usually to pull equity out. 3) personally I view the quicker pay down (25 yr amortization) as a sort of safety net if there's a market downturn.

I was a bit confused about the safety of such locks.

So the above is just some of my observation of foreclosures ---- you would always be better being arm's length with people who are about to lose their home, that is have an agent represent you.

The majority are money orders as we dont take checks and charge a cash handling fee to motivate tenants to use money orders so we avoid being a target for an armed robbery.We have never had to pay a fee to the bank for any money orders.

Being leveraged at 96.5% gives you NO safety margin if the economy goes against you, and your loan gets called in (unless you HAVE found that elusive bargain to begin with). 4.

You need to show them that you will take care of them when someone threatens their safety and also (of equal importance) that you can't just be pushed around in your own property.