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Imagine a 8,100 -square-foot beachfront mansion in Hilton Head, SC with six bedrooms, an in ground pool and an illustrious landscape available for purchase at a meager one million dollars. Sound impossible? Not if you look into foreclosure properties. Homes like these million dollar mansions can be found all over Hilton Head through local banks after the owners have defaulted on their mortgage. Buying Hilton Head real estate that is in the foreclosure process will not only save a great amount of money, but some investors agree that buying a home in foreclosure is a much easier process than a normal home sale. This way there are no prices to haggle over or move in dates to set. When you buy it, it's yours.

With foreclosures running up to 1.27% of all mortgage loans, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, the best place to look for a Hilton Head real estate may be a bank or on the court house steps. In the first five months of 2004, over 113,000 million dollar mansions came onto the market as foreclosures nationwide. This is an increase of 37% from the previous year.

There are also disadvantages of buying a Hilton Head foreclosure property as well, because most of these homes come onto the market due to a financial hardship. Sometimes the former owners become bitter from the loss of their home and sabotage the home by damaging or removing doors, appliances or light fixtures. Some of these homeowners may go as far as pouring concrete down the toilets or punching holes into the walls of these million dollar homes. Sometimes the financially strapped homeowners allow the homes to fall into disrepair, because the basic foreclosure can take about four months. This allows ample time for the lawn to become seriously overgrown and a slimy green pool to grow.

There are many ways to buy a Hilton Head mansion in foreclosure. Most of these mansions are actually sold in a pre-foreclosure sale to buyers who search legal postings for Notices of Default. All buyers will need to be financially prepared to make an offer on the pre-foreclosure home immediately and have the down payment already in hand. These buyers also need to be prepared to deal with the emotional property owners who are losing their homes and who may not want to leave willingly. There may also be furious tenants to evict, which the buyer should be readily prepared to do.

A Hilton Head mansion foreclosure can happen to the best of people, in the best neighborhoods, in any price range. These foreclosures can and do occur in the same proportions as do other homes. A mansion foreclosure can sometimes be a surprising steal, mostly because some lenders don't want to price their properties to move fast. There are deals out there for those that are patient enough to look for them.