Foreclosed home purchases made easy

Average Joe, seeking to save his house by getting a loan modification, knows that that process is about as easy as getting Congress to pass health care legislation. So imagine a scenario under which investors may, for $99.95 per month, peruse lists of foreclosed homes they can buy at bulk-buyers' costs, with the mere click of a mouse. How did that happen?

Starting this week, RebuildUS.com, a Woodland Hills, Calif.-based company, is launching a Web site that allows buyers to purchase low-end properties online. No courthouse mob scene, no auction fracas. The homes for sale -- usually distressed and starting at about $4,000 -- are available courtesy of bulk buyers like James Odell Barnes, a well-known foreclosure investor. Barnes, of Leesville, S.C., buys vast quantities of homes over the phone, without inspecting them. Or, as he explained it once in an interview, "I will buy anything."

Well and good. But how do investors get in on this bonanza?