Back in 2002, after carefully running the numbers and determining we could afford it, my wife and I bought a beautiful new 5 bed/3 bath 2700 sq. ft. house. But in the time since then, we’ve had two children, my wife changed to a lower paying career as a teacher, I have had no pay increases, and prices of everything have gone up. Now, and for about the last year, we have been living beyond our means and stealing from our nest egg just to make ends meet every month.

So we got the idea to move to a smaller and less costly house. You’d think this would be no problem except that the challenge for us is that where we live now, the schools are not so great and we need to get into a better school district. This means that even if we manage to get what we paid for our current house, we’d barely be able to afford little more than a cracker box in the better areas.

So after a few months of looking, we could no longer ignore the sad world of short sales, REO’s and foreclosures. We were pretty much ignoring them because we felt that even considering them would be preying on other people’s misfortune. But I guess it’s like thinking that if you don’t eat a steak you’ll save a cow. Foreclosures are not something that most Realtors talk much about, nor even seem very happy or proud to show. And rightly so.

The sad reality is that if we can save money, or get a house in a better area, then it might be worth considering. There are many drawbacks, such as banks sell them as is with no guarantees or disclosures. Anyway, I have found several web sites that specialize in foreclosure listings and information, so I have a lot to learn. I’ll add to this post or write a new one detailing the best sites and/or any pearls of wisdom I come up with.