A house for $9000? $5000?  $1000? You may have read in the news about getting an incredible deal on buying a home in the city of Detroit. It's been reported that buyers have been able to find perfectly good homes for as little as a few hundred dollars. And the stories are true. However, don't take everything you read at just face value. Buying Detroit foreclosures can be a great investment, when done with care.

So you want to buy foreclosed or bank-owned property in Detroit? First, you need to understand the Michigan foreclosure process. Not much different in Michigan. If a homeowner falls 3 or more payments behind on the mortgage, their bank then sends them a letter that they are going to start foreclosure proceedings.

A foreclosure attorney then comes in to handle the foreclosure process. The house is then scheduled to be auction off at a sheriff sale. But what usually happens is the bank will buy the home back. They do this because money is still owed to them--the mortgage--and they still want to get it back.

Now keep in mind, original owners are often still living in the home. And the owners actually have a redemption period of 6 months to pay back the full amount to keep the home. But this usually doesn't happen.

At this point, the auction winner--in this case we'll still say its the bank, will contact one or more Michigan Realtors and ask them for a price that the house should sell for.

Usually right away the bank has contacted 3 different real estate agents. The bank will ask the three Michigan Realtors give them a price that the house should sell for. The bank is trying to get their money back for the house so it take a loss. The bank then hires a Realtor to change locks and if necessary get the home in saleable condition.

Once you understand this process, you can see that sometimes you don't always get a deal on bank owned properties, even Detroit foreclosures. But, with some insight, you often can a deal.

So where do you find Detroit foreclosures? Auction notices are listed in the paper. You can also check the listings with real estate auctioneers. They usually have the homes listed online and you check the address and prices. By far, the easiest way to have access to a list of Detroit foreclosures is through a Detroit real estate agency or Detroit Realtor. As you can see from the foreclosure process, banks contact them first just to even figure out how to price the home, as well as to sell it. Because of this relationship, real estate agents have access to these lists sometimes long before the general public.

Though some banks in the metro Detroit area are starting not to worry so much about recoup the whole amount of the loan--but enough to not make the entire deal a loss. And there is a lot of inventory to unload. Check with a Michigan Realtor to see what kind of deals are out there on Detroit foreclosures.