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How to Buy a Foreclosure: Your Go-To Guide to Distressed Properties

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Bank-Owned or REO: If a home doesn’t sell at auction, it becomes a real-estate owned home , meaning the bank or lender officially owns it. This is different than a short sale because a pre-foreclosure seller usually still has equity in the house (meaning the home value is more than their mortgage balance).

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Flipping Houses in New York: 5 Cities to Consider

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You can save money by doing some of the work yourself, of course. According to Wise, putting in a little sweat equity on the interior work can improve your profit margin. “If Money was cheap but it’s not cheap anymore.” When buying an REO ( real estate owned/lender-owned property ), the banks like to work with cash.