If the owner is selling you the house, they are required by law to disclose all known defects, plus a bunch of other crap like seismic zone, proximity to nuclear reactors and even sometimes the habitat zones of the red-legged frog.
If an agent is reluctant to show the house, it could be by the sellers’ choosing, or it could be that several offers are already on the table and you are coming in as a potential buyer without an agent. This is perceived by the seller/sellers’ agent as low-probability of making a deal/closing. Either way, if someone is reluctant to show me their property I am reluctant to show them my checkbook.
I think for future bargain hunting you are better off with sellers who need to compete with the short sales and REOs rather than the short-sales and REOs themselves. Because you can expect them to meet your demands, such as seller credits, inspection contingencies, etc. rather than them expecting you to jump through some hoops.
