This Sunday’s edition of the ANG Newspapers (Oakland Tribune, Argus, Daily Review, Tri-Valley Herald, etc) had an interesting article about how foreclosures provide opportunities for homebuyers, particulary first-time homebuyers. I am copying below the first few paragraphs of the article. Below you will see a link to the full text of the article.
“Foreclosed homes prove headaches for some, opportunities for others” by George Avalos
ZENA HALL figured the eagerness of lenders to sell foreclosed houses would help her capture a great price on her next home. About $380,000 later, Hall found out she was right on the mark when she bought a foreclosed townhouse in San Lorenzo.“I think I got an excellent deal,” Hall said. In 2005, that townhouse sold for $532,000. That means Hall’s price was 29 percent below the 2005 price. That was 5 percent below a $400,000 appraisal done on the home just before Hall bought it.
BUYERSIBusiness 2 Hall is not alone in landing a foreclosed home for what buyers consider a bargain.
Banks have moved to whittle away a rising pile of foreclosed houses. The lenders are more aggressive in their quest to unload the residences whose loans defaulted.
During November, 446 foreclosed homes were sold in the nine-county Bay Area. That’s 11 percent of all the home resales in the nine-county region in that month, according to an analysis by this paper of sales data compiled by Dataquick Information Systems.
In the East Bay, 229 foreclosed homes were sold in November — 16 percent of all the resales in that area.
Banks and other lenders now account for a sharply rising share of the homes being sold in the Bay Area and East Bay. A year ago, 1 percent of all home resales in the Bay Area involved a foreclosed house.
For the full text, please click on this link: http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_8223629
