Before jumping at the first greatprice you come across, you need to

inspect the home carefully.

Most foreclosures do not gosmoothly and angry homeownershave been known to take out theirfrustrations on the property, evenformer owners of luxury homes.

Some of the damage will be visible,but some of it may not and you will

need someone to inspect the propertyto ferret any problems that exist.

Usually the longer the house has been vacant, the more damage there could be.

The damage could be from a bug

infestation, dried out plumbing seals

and sewer gases backing up into the

house.

You will have to consider these problems in yourrepair budget.

The previous owners of the house you are

thinking about buying may have leftmonths ago and it is

important to find out how

long the house was empty.

When owners of luxury homes have financial

troubles, the first thingthey may stop spending

money on is landscaping.

Be sure to thoroughly inspect the grounds for

overgrown trees thatmay be damaging the

house.

Look for vines growing on the house or growing into windows and look for root damage around the perimeter of the house.

The cost of these repairs will have to be considered as part ofpurchasing budget as well.