Buyers interested in foreclosures need a real estate professional’s help navigating the online listings unless they are willing to pay a substantial monthly fee to use heavily advertised sites like ForeclosureStore and ForeclosureToGo.

Sites that are free, like Zillow.com and Trulia.com, just display filings culled from other sites, so users ultimately end up at the pay sites.

Users of the pay sites can often see a partial address and description, but if they want the whole enchilada, then they must cough up monthly fees that range from about $40 to $80.

RealtyTrac advertises free access, but often the addresses and other details are incomplete.

Source: The Associated Press, Alex Veiga (12/22/2008)