Virtual Foreclosure Bus Tours

May 1st, 2008

Foreclosures are sweeping across the country – the worst in the last 16 years. Realtors are not taking the slump in the property market without a show of fight. With the prices of property at an all time low they have hit upon a novel plan – running foreclosure bus tours to lure in potential buyers. Thus real estate service companies are using this very debacle as a tool to reap in gains.

A step ahead of the vehicle tour rumbling across the region is another easier method to draw the attention of the purchasers – a virtual foreclosure bus tour. A search tool has been launched by HouseRebate.com that shows up all the REO houses in the Multiple Listing at San Diego city. These units have passed on from the hands of the borrower after foreclosure to the lenders. Without moving from the comfort and privacy of the home, those interested can hop on to the virtual foreclosure bus tour by clicking on www.houserebate.com/bus. The company claims that this tool enables those who want to invest or buy residential houses, to view all the available units without rushing around from site to site.

In California during the first quarter of 2008 lenders had issued 113,676 default notices to borrowers. This is a 39.4% increase from the previous year, according to information released by DataQuick. The latter firm has been detailing such information since 1992.

The average price of houses in San Diego County fell below $400,000 in March 2008– the lowest since November 2003. This was mainly because of the huge discounts being offered by banks who are weighed down by innumerable foreclosed units. It was a tumble down by 4.8% from February and 19.4% fall from March 2007. The number of sales is abysmally low – contradicting the comments of realtors that many buyers are snapping up deals. In March this year there 2,108 units were sold – a fall of 34.5% from March of 2007 and the lowest March figures since 1988, the year from which DataQuick has started detailing San Diego figures. The March sale figures were better than February but this is typical of this season. It is nothing compared to the usual rise recorded in previous years. Both condos and resale houses saw year-by-year drops but that of newly built ones saw a rise of 7.1%. Of all the properties sold in south California, 38% were related to foreclosures. Only a year ago it was 8%.