There are plenty of good answers on this forum, all you need to do is follow their advise and not jump into something because it looks like a "good deal". Everyone on here has made good suggestions, My first step would be to meet with the loan officer at the bank where you do business, and go from there.

Hire an experience agent to represent your best interest. Talk to a lender about financing options available and what you can be pre-approved for. Ask that REALTOR to provide you with listings in a specific area that fit into your pre-approved range. Be aware short sales (preforeclosed homes) take many weeks (sometime months) to negotiate the sale and then to transfer title. Bank owned homes are (in more cases than not) in need of many repairs/remodeling/rebuilding and are usually not in move in condition. If you have the ability to purchase a home, don't rule out the average home on the market. You may be better off buying a home in good condition at a higher price than breaking your back and bank roll to fix up a bank owned home.

Hello Allie, congratulations on setting your sites on buying vs renting. With interest rates at an all time low and an abundance of inventory now is a great time to buy. There is a lot to understand in the process and would encourage you to get with a Realtor who can give you sound advice and guidance through the purchase process. First things first you should get prequalified with a loan officer to understand what you can afford and obtain a pre-qualification letter. We are seeing multiple offers today on bank owned properties so working with a Realtor who has experience in bank owned properties is important. There is a lot to know and understand and would be happy to help you. I am in Auburn with Coldwell Banker, feel free to give me a call 530-885-5215 My Best, Robert

We have a 1st time home buyer seminar given by myself and a local lender. We also cover programs that provide down payment assistance and I have extensive experience in representing bank owned properties as well as buyers on the purchasing side. The information provided by the other respondents is very good. There is much to consider when purchasing a home especially bank owned properties that are expempt from many otherwise required disclosures. I would be happy to help you in with the process either though education, up front information or links through my website. To give you the most comprehensive and personalized service it would be optimum to meet in person. Auburn local -Cathy Sarmento

i am a real estate agent in Placer County. Auburn is one of the cities that I sell in, along with Penryn, Newcastle, Loomis, Granite Bay, Rocklin, Roseville, Lincoln, and Sheridan. I would be glad to give you pointers on how to go about buying a starter home in south Placer County. My email is:

Roseville.Foreclosure.Realtor@gmail.com

In addition to foreclosures, I show and find homes that are offered by sellers that need to sell cheap for all kinds of reasons. I have access to most mortgage loans available.

You can view my profile for more information, and opinions about buying foreclosures.

Hi Allie,

I am glad to see you have an open mind for properties like these. Many bank owned properties are listed in your local MLS so it is important that you work with someone (Realtor) who knows there way around these types of properties. They are also handled by banks themselves, again a good Realtor will know how to contact these people. Get your self prequailfied with a bank and don't contact just one, I recommend 3-4 banks. Preforeclosures can be a little more tricky depending upon the staus of the property. Sometimes preforeclosures are just days away from a formal foreclosure so timing can be very important.

Good luck and I hope you become rich and famous someday.

First I would suggest finding a good local loan officer who can assist you to determine a budget for your purchase. There are lots of great programs out there for first time buyers that offer great terms and below market interest rates. I recommend Marlena Olson with the Vitek Mortgage Group at 916-486-6900. She can assist you to determine how much you can afford (purchase price, monthly payment with principle, interest, property taxes, and insurance) and what your closing costs will be (loan origination, tax reserves, recording fees, title insurance, etc.).

With regard to pre-foreclosure property, these are not always the best deal and often require buyers to jump through many more hurdles and longer timelines to acquire (in instances of short sales). You may consider reading other Trulia threads regarding short sales for a complete explanation:

http://www.trulia.com/voices/Home_Buying/I_am_about_to_put_a…
http://www.trulia.com/voices/Home_Buying/How_difficult_is_it…
http://www.trulia.com/voices/Home_Buying/Short_sale_risks_fo…
http://www.trulia.com/voices/Home_Buying/In_a_short_sale_whe…

If you want to try to purchase a house at a "Trustee Sale" these are not always good deals either. In addition, you usually have to purchase the house without first seeing it/inspecting it...plus you must have a large sum of cash in hand for a deposit, or be required to pay all cash.

With regard to purchasing bank-owned property, these are not always the best deals either, however the prices can sure seem attractive. Many bank owned properties are trashed inside - carpet needs replacing, needs new paint, appliances have been removed, light fixtures removed, and sometimes things as drastic as cabinets removed, wiring stripped from the walls, etc. There will be no disclosures from the bank, you will likely have to pay for all of your own inspections, and you will likely have to take the property as-is.

I highly suggesting finding an agent who specializes in the areas where you want to purchase property, and after you are able to pre-qualify for your loan, start looking at your options with your agent. I personally do not work in the Auburn area (if that is where you want to purchase), however there are some great agents on this forum who can assist you...I am sure they will be responding to your question soon! Good luck!

Allie, Are you wanting to buy this type of property thinking you are going to get a much better "deal"? In our market that just may not be true. Typically a "preforeclosed" would usually be a short sale. It takes quite a long time to know if you are even going to get the sale approved- involving a lot of patience on your part. The forclosed properties- you have 2 ways to go. A true "foreclosure sale"- ie. on the "courthouse steps" would mean that you would need to have money in hand to pay for the property- which is probably not possible for you. If you wait for the bank to list as an REO- they typically aren't listing them for much less than any of the other properties out there right now. Many sellers and agents are pricing homes competitively to sell up against the "short sales" and REO properties.

The chance that you take with foreclosure or REO properties is that you may not have complete disclosures on the history of the property- it may be in need of repair, because- let's face it- when you know things are going down the tube, you don't usually do a lot of repairs and maintenance. In some cases, homeowners have actually damaged the property out of anger.

I'm not trying to totally dissuade you, but you might want to go to a reputable lender, see what you qualify for, and start working with an agent to explore ALL of your options. You may just get a great deal on a straight forward sale from someone who just needs to sell and has plenty of equity in their property to price it competively!

Good luck- and you are VERY smart to get in the real estate game young, and start to build your wealth! Use caution,and get in a good loan- not one that is going to leave you needing to refinance in a few year due to an adjusting interest!