Warren Buffett is in talks to buy the troubled residential mortgage company Residential Capital, a unit of GMAC, the New York Post said, citing sources.

Buffett, along with Appaloosa Management and Avenue Capital, is said to have large debt positions in ResCap, the paper said.

GMAC spokeswoman Gina Proia declined to comment.

Berkshire Hathaway could not be immediately reached for a comment.

To maintain loan compliance, ResCap must have a net worth of $250 million, but recently has come close to dipping below the threshold, the paper said.

It had a tangible net worth of $409 million at the end of the third quarter.

Once a leading real estate financing company, ResCap stumbled after making mortgage loans to borrowers with weak credit and has required repeated capital infusions from GMAC, an auto and commercial lender.

The mortgage company has lost over $10 billion in the last three years.

The number of loans delinquent rose to 13.40 percent at the end of June from 11.50 percent at the end of 2008.

Last month, GMAC's Chief Financial Officer Robert Hull said the company was working "through the analysis to reach an appropriate outcome for ResCap."

GMAC has been kept afloat with government support — it received $12.5 billion of bailout funds — because its financing operations are considered integral to the auto industry.

In September, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc and Leucadia National Corp agreed to buy Capmark Financial Group Inc's mortgage loan and servicing business for up to $490 million, increasing exposure to a possible U.S. housing recovery.