Inez, Each Bank maintains their own database of properties for sale (REO) and the Gov. does the same for the properties they have for sale. These sites are provided to the public to use for Free and also have information on the purchase/bid process..Sites like these....http://www.wamuproperties.com/ ....http://reosearch.fanniemae.com/reosearch/
http://www.countrywide.com/purchase/f_reo.asp ....http://www.hud.gov/homes/index.cfm

You can find the links to these Bank and Gov. sites here.....http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/wiki/REO_Database_List.asp ...... http://www.biggerpockets.com/bank-reo.html ....
http://www.thedirectoriescompany.com/reos.htm

You might also enjoy looking at these.....http://publicrecords.onlinesearches.com/Virginia-Foreclosure… .......

Good hunting, Dunes

Hi Inez,
The banks typically won't deal directly with people. It is the asset manager's responsibility to list the homes for sale with a realtor, then you would deal with them, similar to how you would deal with a listing agent on a privately owned home. Because of the complexities of purchasing a foreclosure though, I would definitely recommend that you work with a buyer's agent. They can help navigate you through the transaction.

Best of luck