Specifically, educate me on the pros and cons of buying a foreclosed property. What should I be leary of? The property in question looks good on the real estate site, but only has one picture. The description raises no red flags (I stay away from places that say “sold as-is” or “no disclosure”).

I’m doing a drive-by this weekend, to make sure of the neighborhood, etc, but nothing beats seeing the whole thing and getting it inspected. I just don’t want to do that yet, until I’m closer to being sure that this is the one.

Lots of y’all are way more knowledgeable than me in this area – please share your hard-learned wisdom.

UPDATE: 2 June: Thanks everyone for your input. Please don’t stop. 🙂

I drove around the various neighborhoods today, and eliminated most of my possibilities. Then I stumbled across a FSBO property that is darn close to perfect. My two biggest issues with it are (1) the listing states lot size as approx 1.25 acres, and county tax rolls state lot size as .9 acres. Which do I believe? (2) It’s not fenced, so I’ll need to figure out how much fencing I can afford, so my hounds will have a secure place to run.