I've done a couple of self-owner-occupied flips, a full house rehab (again owner-occupied), have taken R.E. licensing classes just to learn a bit about it all.

My husband and I need to move out of NE PA. Way too rural for us. I want to pay CASH to buy a house and live in Virginia Beach, VA, not in any other surrounding town (because I've watched the pricing trends and VBch is the place to buy/live for better appreciation and safety).

I've been seeing a FEW REO, foreclosures, short sells, pre-foreclosures "somewhat" in our price range, which is pretty low for the area around $125k for a detached SFH. My husband can do light rehab (fixing walls, moving walls, painting, building decks, etc).

I'm not all that familiar with what kinds of offers to make on these types of listings.

1) I'm wondering how much lower a REO, foreclosure, short sell, pre-foreclosure CASH offer can be as compared to an owner-occupied home?

2) I realize banks aren't in the business of holding onto homes, they must have a lower $ acceptance limit, but is it lower than what an owner would take?

3) I keep seeing "weasel clauses" here. Since I want to occupy what I purchase, wouldn't I want to leave in the inspection clause? Anything else I'd want to be sure to take care of since I'll live in the house?

And finally, (for now ;) )

5) If we moved to FL we could buy a small SFH with a garage (necessary) for around $80-$100k, no repairs needed, then we could buy a mobile home for cash too, and rent that out, giving us some additional income. I don't want to move to FL though. But I can't think of any other option, if we can't live in Virginia Beach. We are only considering the eastern coastal areas of VA, FL for more warmth.

6) And to throw this into the mix, although it might not be appropriate for this site, we've thought about buying land, having a modular (not manufactured/mobile) home built and delivered to site, which should cost less than purchasing a home, I think. At least it was a lot less expensive a few years ago to do that. So--LAND buying, how to handle that?

Sorry for all the questions, my brain is fried with trying to figure all of this out. We just want a home to live in, in a place we'll enjoy living in, and really want to make V.Bch. work, if at all possible.

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