With the real estate market in the shape that it is currently in there seems to be more and more distressed properties popping up on every block in America. All over the place you will see the signs that say ‘short sale’ or ‘foreclosure’ and you would think that you could snatch up these types of distressed properties for a song. This leads to the question, ‘Are distressed properties worth it?’

The answer to that question is not a clear cut yes or no because there are many factors to be considered before you can determine the response. While buying a property that is distressed can be a real bargain, if you go in blindly and have no idea what you are doing you may be setting yourself up for an absolute nightmare. Here are some factors you need to consider:

• Will the Bank Respond: With most distressed properties it is the bank that owns them as the owners have long since walked away. While it is indeed in the best interest of the banks to get rid of the properties and recoup as much money as they can, they still sometimes take awhile to respond to offers. There are many cases where people will place a bid on a distressed property and the banks won’t respond for weeks, sometimes months. If you want to play the distressed property game you have to have patience.

• How Distressed is the Property: Many times when owners walk away from their homes they will do so with little to no regard of how they leave the home. There may be cases where there is a good amount of work that needs to be conducted to a home in order to bring it up to snuff but the owner knows they are getting nothing out of a foreclosure but bad credit and won’t care. Even worse, distressed homes that have been around for awhile sometimes fall victim to vandalism. If you are even considering a distressed home it is imperative that you have a professional home inspection conducted. If you fail to do so all that money you thought you saved on the price could be dumped right back into the home because you have to make costly repairs.

• Do you Know What you are Doing: If you think that buying a distressed home is as easy as one, two, three, then you need to think again. Many times it is much more complicated than simply buying a home at market value. If you have no experience in real estate it is probably best that you find a real estate agent who is very well versed in the distressed homes game and follow their advice and allow then to help you in your quest to find a bargain home.

So the answer to the question is it all depends. If you work with a professional real estate agent, have the distressed home pass a home inspection with flying colors, and luck out to work with a bank that gets back to you right away, then it will be a piece of cake. However, just as with anything worth having in life, acquiring a distressed home will require some finesse and more than likely will not go off without a hitch. If you have patience and know what to expect a distressed home can be a great deal for you, but if you don’t have patience then you may want to consider a different home buying avenue.