Foreclosure Bus Tours Gaining Popularity in Valley

Foreclosure bus tours are gaining popularity in the valley. Before the housing market fell to foreclosures it had been a hard task to buy a reo house. One had to find a reliable real estate agent and go through time and money viewing a whole host of reo properties. But foreclosures have changed all that. It is a buyer’s market and purchasers are being wooed. Realtors have found short cuts to show many houses to potential buyers within a short time. In one trip the bus passengers can view all the listed foreclosed properties in the locality.

The San Gavriel Valley Foreclosure bus has a capacity of seating 15 passengers. It is run by Jeff and Chris Reisbeck of Pasadena based Keller Williams Realty. Chris said that assessing the changed situation they wanted to change their strategy and meet the demands of the new circumstances. He added, ‘We do weekly tours on Saturday and we’re also getting ready to set up private tours during the week for people who want to narrow down their searches.”

The response has been heartening commented Chris. Quite a few numbers of reo for sale have been sold. They tell the people to work with them if they plan to buy a house that is listed on the foreclosure bus tour. It is all done in black and white. From figures released on Thursday it seems that the Reisbecks are doing well and should gear up for more brisk business.

California has been one of the worst hit foreclosure regions. During the booming years there was frenetic housing activity. The market was fed with an easy flow of cash from the sub-prime market. Predatory lending targeted gullible borrowers with promises of teaser rates. Often no down payments were required. But when the rates began to rise thousands of borrowers, unable to cope with this increase fell into foreclosure. There were so many reo foreclosures that the government along with the lenders became alarmed. Vacant foreclosed units dotted the affected regions attracting crime and disease. Various emergency measures were taken to contain the crisis. But it went out of hand causing the real estate to slump with more supply than demand. Desperate to find out ways and means the lenders started offering huge discounts and organizing bus tours.

According to RealtyTrac over 272,000 houses have been foreclosed across the country. It is a 55% increase from what it was a year ago during the same month of July. It calculated to a foreclosure rate of 1:464.