In rising foreclosures, some see opportunities

Thursday, April 24, 2008

In rising foreclosures, some see opportunities

Interested buyers board ‘bargain bus tours’ to visit foreclosed homes

by Katherine Mullen | Staff Writer

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As a real estate investor, Susan Ricketts buys property she can afford, then turns around and rents it to others.

On a sunny, windy Saturday in late March, the Lisbon resident sat in the front of a small coach bus, ready to find her next investment on Long and Foster’s ‘‘bargain bus tour.” She held a red Long and Foster folder detailing the eight Carroll County homes on the tour that day.

Realtors in Long and Foster’s Mount Airy office had organized a daylong tour for homebuyers to view foreclosed, bank-owned and pre-foreclosed homes in Mount Airy, Woodbine, Westminster and Sykesville that cost less than $500,000.

The current housing market, in which a rising number of properties are in various stages of foreclosure, many homebuyers, real estate agents and investors are finding a silver lining in others’ gray clouds.

For homeowners, foreclosure is often the last resort, said Trish Gilliece, a Realtor with Long and Foster in Mount Airy. ‘‘It’s an embarrassing situation for people to be in,” Gilliece said. ‘‘This is our little stab to get people to buy.”

The Mount Airy office’s first bus tour on March 15 toured foreclosed homes in Frederick County and filled quickly. A third tour – this time in Howard and Montgomery counties - is planned for Sunday.

The idea began several months ago after the Realtors saw a television segment on a similar tour in California, Gilliece said.

On March 29, nearly 20 people boarded the bus for the Carroll County tour. A home inspector, a mortgage consultant and an attorney were on hand to explain the foreclosure process and answer buyers’ questions. None were Long and Foster listings

Kerry Mandrik, a Realtor with Long and Foster, noted that the current housing market is ideal for people who want to move up from a townhouse to a single-family home. The third property on the tour, a single-family home in Sykesville, is such an example, Mandrik said. Though the home’s condition was less than ideal, with ‘‘elbow grease,” it could be great for someone trying to move up.

The bargain bus tours are meant to be orientations to what is available in the area, Sharon Crisafulli, manager of Long and Foster Real Estate in Mount Airy and Frederick, said. After the tour, buyers can work with Realtors to narrow the field according to their interests.

What does it mean?

Pre-foreclosure: A homeowner has missed mortgage payments and can pay off debt or sell the property.

Foreclosure: Allows a lender to recover the amount owed on a defaulted loan by selling or taking ownership of the property.

Short sale: Sale of a home for less money than is currently owed to the lender on the foreclosed mortgage.