Buying distressed real estate homes can be headache-inducing if one does not know the first steps to take when embarking on such a purchase. It can discourage the weak and unimaginative, but then this is what separates the tough cookies from the wishy-washy type in the real estate business. By taking on the hard work and relative risks in stride, a financially intelligent homebuyer or a savvy businessman can make money out of a bad situation - that is, the property that came to the market because of unpaid mortgages.

Donald Trump did not turn into a real estate mogul overnight. He started out with small purchases like middle-class apartment complexes that were foreclosed. Trump turned around the apartment complex to 100 percent occupancy rate and resold the whole lot for millions in profit. Anybody with a good head on his shoulders can do that too, one house at a time, as long as he has the sense and guts to take the plunge in purchasing distressed real estate homes.

First, buyers must use the cheapest available resources at their disposal - the Internet. They should scan online foreclosure lists to save time and money instead of going to banks and government agencies one by one for their list of distressed real estate homes.

The buyer must engage the services of a real estate agent or broker who can appraise the foreclosed property that he is eyeing. It would save him a lot of money in the long run, because he can avoid costly mistakes. The professional eye of a licensed home inspector must also be hired, because what one sees on the outside may not be equal to the truth inside, like termite-infested beams and leaking basements. A buyer must have a title insurance against other problems with the property.

He also has to inspect and have a feel of the neighborhood. The property might be great, but the location may not be that attractive for a family with infants and toddlers. The buyer may just end up with an array of distressed real estate homes in his hands, rotting away.

If he thinks he got a good deal in his hands, the buyer should then talk to the seller - a bank or the government. It depends on how his art of dealing is, but he can get a fairly good mortgage for the property with the right numbers and paperwork to back him up. If he can get a pre-approved mortgage before making an offer, that would be great. As Trump had said, when one is dealing with the government on a foreclosure, they just want to get out of it as quickly as possible, because they are not equipped to handle distressed real estate homes. Smart buyers can have incredible deals on them.