Buying a Foreclosure

Ours was a foreclosure that was already bank-owned (had been empty for about 18 months), and like someone said, there's usually very little room for negotiating on the price. Ours took about 45 days from making the offer to closing (getting the keys). The hardest part was trying to get them (the bank) to fix the couple of things we really wanted fixed. In the end, the only thing we were able to have them do was fix the hot water heater (we also requested new windows--some were broken or missing locks, asked for a few doors to be replaced, and to have 2 trees removed--we ended up paying out of pocket to have that done about 2 months after we moved in--the windows & doors are still "in progress").

FOR.EVER!
Seriously, it took almost 4 months from the time we submitted the offer to closing. This was in 2010, so your results may vary.

One of my daughters looked at foreclosed houses last year. She put an offer on one and after 3 months of not hearing a single thing from the bank she put in an offer on something else.

K., the home my husband and I purchased in 9/12 was a foreclosure. It was not an extremely long process to close, a little over 30 days if I remember correctly due to a last minute snag on their part that I won't bore you with. The part that took longer than normal was the initial offer/negotiation process. The bank was pretty slow to get back to us and they certainly were not willing to come off the price very much. We got our house for just $4k under appraisal which is about what any private seller would have sold it for. Some houses the bank is willing to just dump but apparently not the price range or neighborhood we bought in. But it's ok, we loved the house, it just so happened to be bank owned. My realtor says foreclosures can take much longer than ours did though, she tells us we were lucky. But if all your ducks are in a row and you know there will be no problem with your financing then it should go smoothly.

Buying a foreclosed home is not any different than buying a house from a private seller. (Buying a home that is a short-sale is a whole other story, and typically takes ~6 months.) Once an offer is accepted on a foreclosed home, there's not reason you can't close in 30 days, as long as you have your paperwork in order.

Before the housing market problems (back in 2003), we bought a bank owned foreclosure, and we closed on it in about a month. There was no real ability to negotiate price, and no repairs from the home inspection were addressed except for the bank paying for a home warranty. We were lucky there wasn't much wrong with the house. I'm not sure how much things have changed, but it was quick, easy, and totally worthwhile for us.

Ours closed in 45 days. ( the bank in our foreclosure is known for taking longer ). I didn't mind though that it took that long since we had so much to do during the process.