buy a primary residence from pre foreclosure, advice?

i currently live on long island, NY and i own a house. i think my area market value is $350-375K, i owe 300k, i dont need to move asap but my goal is to move within 2 years before my daughter is old enough to goto school (my current school dist. is horrible) im looking to move into a better school dist in the area. id move today if the situation was right. houses in the area i want are about $425-500. i was thinking of going to the courthouse and looking for pre foreclosures and offering some insulting offers, any advice? also what might help the value of my current house to sell besides the obvious kitchen/bath improvements? also what court do i goto and what exactly do i ask for? any help is greatly appreciated, i love this forum, you guys rock!

Honestly, jumping right into buying short sales is probably not a great idea. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for going out on a limb, but this is a specialized field and knowledge is king. I suggest attending seminars, webinars, etc…, reading books on short sale investing and spending some time just learning the basics of the business. Once you get the basics down you can go out on a limb and make your first offer with the knowledge of what you need to do. Each deal is different but the process is the same each and everytime. Keep us posted.