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Underwriting guidelines have tightened and lenders are taking longer to approve home loans. What can you do to close your escrow on time? What's New? Home-Repo Bus Tours!
By Sheryl LandrumHome Worth Columnist
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The recent foreclosure surge has spawned creative new avenues for real estate professionals selling houses in San Diego and other depressed markets in California. Instead of the usual broker caravan where agents in the business showcase the new homes they have listed to other agents with potential home buyers, real estate agents have now developed the home-repo bus tour. These tours just may be the deal prospective home buyers are looking for.
All Aboard the Home-Repo Bus Tour!
Real estate agents are now taking prospective home buyers on bus tours to view condos and homes that have been repossessed by mortgage lenders. As homes in foreclosure strain the bottom line of the mortgage lenders' balance sheets, more lenders are accepting below-market offers from home buyers anxious to purchase a home or make an investment in real estate. So real estate agents looking to sell houses are loading prospective home buyers into buses and shuttling them to foreclosure properties--hoping to match buyers with properties for sale.
What Do Prospective Home Buyers Say About the Home-Repo Tour?
Conventional wisdom says that people who retire well in life are often owners of rental properties. And while many of the prospective home buyers on the tour are looking for a home of their own to buy, others seek a great investment. One home-repo tourist, Beatrice Doblado, claimed that she purchased foreclosed homes during the housing slump of the mid 1990s and "it has paid royally."
Home foreclosures are becoming an escalating burden on the economy. In San Diego, home loan foreclosures rose 353% percent in 2007, dragging down property values and making it difficult to sell houses or refinance home loans. However, the foreclosure surge can benefit prospective home buyers and investors. Dropping home prices help many people who were previously unable to afford a house. Others may augment their future retirement income by buying homes for investment. With the availability of home-repo tours, prospective home buyers have a great opportunity to see what is available around them. People considering buying a house should contact a real estate agent about a home-repo tour. There's a great chance of finding the right house at a good price.
Source: Home-Repo Bus Tour by Emmet Pierce, The San Diego Union Tribune, Sunday, January 27, 2008.
About the Author
Sheryl Landrum is a Senior Loan Officer with First Capital Mortgage of San Diego at the Prudential Realty Office in Bonsall, California.