Did anyone look into or buy a foreclosure?

My father keeps telling me we should look into foreclosures since there are so many of them on the market right now.

Is there anyway of doing research on my own or do I HAVE to go through a real estate agency to find them?

Also- if anyone has bought a foreclosure- how did it work out?

TIA!!

Re: Did anyone look into or buy a foreclosure?

We've seen so many houses that are going into forclosure/short sales, and for us, they are a headache.

There are so many short sales, but they are more like LONG sales-for us, they are just too much of a hassle bc we never get a straight answer.

IMO, if you have cash to buy a house outright, a foreclosure/short sale is good, if not, you might get some run around.