How to buy a home below market value?

I really want to purchase an investment property right now. I have the extra cash and want to put it into something a little more solid than the stock market.

I see homes valued at say $100,000 that are for sale at $100,000. How do I get that price down? What is the point in buying a home as an investment for exactly what it is worth? What happened to the "you make your money when you buy the home"? It's kind of frustrating to keep looking at houses and being pushed to buy a house just because I can afford the monthly payments.

Tips? I want to rent these out, not flip the houses.

Find a kick-*** building inspector civil engineer studied in the very fine art of spotting both latent (obvious) and patent (hidden, sometimes on purpose) defects, then make your offer conditional on the inspection. Take money off for defects according to the estimated cost of repair. And remember: Residential tenancy law is pretty stiff on landlord's obligation to keep the place in good, habitable repair, so scoping defects early and factoring them into your offer will help OFFSET the very real and ONGOING costs of maintaining any kind of building.

To get a better idea of landlord's obligation in your area, search the terms, 'residential tenancy landlord' along with the name of your jurisdiction. The law varies from place to place but generally it's a pretty stiff obligation. Also, landlords tell me tenants are very hard on buildings, too, and not always forthcoming about reporting the need for reasonable repairs.

More than you could possibly want to know about housing maintenance and inspections http://bccondos.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?...

Why don't you check into siezed houses, or Forclosed Homes?

The asking price of a property is rarely the market value or price. Many things factor into the price including the terms of the sale. You should offer what you are will to pay for the property considering how you expect to use it. If you are buying in down market and you have cash you can be more agressive. Just make sure you are getting what you pay for, always have a home inspection done prior to purchase and make that as a condition of the purchase.

If you want to purchase a property for investment purposes then you need to do your homework on how investors buy property. They look for houses that are mostly fixers (some can be in good shape), sometimes foreclosures (if they can get a good deal) or they talk to for sale by owners who just need to sell quickly and offer them cash. Like I said, do your homework and you will find out how the investors pay for the properties that you want to have as rentals and make money too.