Online foreclosure listings

A good place to start are web sites such as www.RealtyTrac and www.Foreclosure.com, which are commercial subscription services providing lists of homes in foreclosure. Both offer free one-week trials. You can also find lists of government-owned foreclosures from Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Veterans Administration (VA) programs are listed at www.homesales.gov.

On these properties, bids are restricted to homeowner occupancy for the first 45 days of the listing, so you're not competing with big investors. Bids must be submitted through brokers registered with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), however.