Answer by Laud

Turn off the HGTV. Go get a job. Flipping foreclosures is best left to professionals who have already been bankrupt once and know their way around the court system. Just BUYING a foreclosed house is enough to turn most people into blubbering puddles of frustration. SELLING a house is difficult these days, from what I hear. Renovating a house is frequently cited as a cause for divorce and over-consumption of prescription meds. But, if you have cash, time & patience, a huge appetite for risk, no qualms about betting the farm on an iffy outcome, carpentry/plumbing/electrical skills and the ability to defy gravity: GO FOR IT. Oddly, more houses than one might think go thru foreclosure more than once. The first foreclosure buyer thought they were getting a "Deal" only to discover they had a tiger by the tail. You might consider consider farming if you want to work hard for no money. At least then you don't have to live in an icky foreclosed house. Plenty of professionals who have been doing this while you were in college are finding other ways to make money these days while the banks foreclose on their latest 'project' a second time.