Posts Tagged ‘haymarket’

The hunting instinct has not gone out of vogue – is very much there with outward cosmetic changes. Today busloads of hunters are on a foreclosure safari – trying to target sitting ducks. It is a common scene now – also in Prince William County.

Real estate companies chartered a bus carrying 25 prospective buyers to view the thousands of houses afflicted by foreclosures. This was the first tour of its kind in the region. Mortgage attorney Art Grace told the hunters that they have a great chance to snap up a deal. The public here are not even aware of the gold mine they are sitting on. The bus touched on nine foreclosed units in Gainesville and Haymarket within three hours. There were town-houses and stand-alone houses with price tags ranging from $200,000 to $600,000. One house was practically brand new.

The idea of bus tours is catching on across the country with similar buses rolling in California, Nevada, Michigan and Illinois. These states have been worst hit by the foreclosure crisis.
The spokesperson of the tour operator (Long & Foster Realtors) in Prince William, Eileen Durkan said that hearing about similar hunting parties in California she decided to set the wheels rolling here also. California ideas always run eastwards. She decided to pick it up fast. Compared to other areas in the D.C region Prince William has been severely mauled by foreclosures. In Washington, Arlington and Alexandria metro zone there were 28,455 foreclosure postings in 2007 making it rank 41 amongst the top 100 metros of US. The leading cities were Riverside, San Bernardino, California with 102,506 listings. Los Angeles, Long Beach recorded 93,696 foreclosures.

Amongst the hunter tourists were novices, investors and people who were just curious and interested. While on the bus the passengers were given information about foreclosure hunting by a house inspector, house warranty agent and a loan officer. Information brochures were distributed together with water bottles labeled ‘Foreclosure Tour’. One participant commented that the idea was great and would have been greater if it had started earlier.
Experts feel that if somehow the market is made to turn around things will improve. Right now there are too many units and too few buyers. With more foreclosures in the offing more houses are expected to roll in. Buyers are in a fix sans loan facilities. So it is a no go situation.

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