As an owner occupant, you will have a couple week advantage over an investor. If you are purchasing cash, you just have to show proof of funds such as a bank statement. I purchase houses using an equity line I have and I just give them the printout that shows how much I have available.
Depending on the condition of the house, I normally spend $5-$10k doing repairs, new carpet, etc to remodel a house so it is in great shape to sell. There are always unforeseen problems such as the water, gas, and sewer lines from the street. My experience is that I normally have to replace at least one of these. I feel lucky if I don't.
If the house is what you want and you go in expecting to spend a few thousand dollars on what it needs, you will probably be happy with it.
The one problem I had the last few years with HUD in my area was that they were having every house built before 1978 tested for lead. Of course every house had it. They would then make me remediate the lead before I would be able to sell it. It would also be impossible to rent that house to anyone with kids 6 or under unless the lead was remediated. I never wanted to take the risk that the remediation would cost much more than projected so I quit buying HUD houses. Just recently though, they stopped doing this and I bought a house beside a couple others I own for $10,500. Spent about $3,500 for repairs and I rent it out for $375 a month. (the house sold for 45k a couple years before)