A seller in foreclosure may not know your condition of your property. It's actually largely up to the buyer to protect themselves. This is also true in probate sales. In both cases, the price is often discounted. Caveat emptor. I wouldn't buy a distress property if you don't know what you're getting into. They probably thought they were getting a steal by acting as the banks proxy, which is really that they were — they thought they were assisting the bank in unloading the property, and getting a deal for helping the jew. So I don't feel too bad for them.