I replied elsewhere but this is another thing I did. It's worked once and not worked once. The time it worked, the house was occupied by junkies that inherited the house and knew the bank was coming. The house was trashed and disgusting, but the basement and foundation were flawless (a big problem around here) and I did buy it.

The other time, when the person didn't take my offer, it was because of bad animal hoarding. She was a sweet person but I figure ashamed of the situation. I left her a gift card from Petco and a letter about my own rescue dogs. She replied via text with a bunch of really nice things, but wouldn't let me in to see the condition. However, she had the whole property trashed out, including a bunch of junked cars all around the yard, and that saved me thousands of dollars, so I still consider that a win.