Take a ride on the Foreclosure Express!
No need to hurry,
either.
It’s breakfast time in Orlando and thousands
of people are clambering aboard tour buses all over the city ready for fun in
the Florida sunshine. One group, however, won’t be following the others to
Disney World or the area’s many other theme park attractions.
They’ll be taking a shopping trip in the company of estate agents and
mortgage brokers, hoping to find a bargain among a selection of repossessed and run-down
homes.
The growing popularity of the six-hour “foreclosure express” tour is one symptom of the worst housing crisis to afflict the Sunshine State in recent years, a slump set off by the sub-prime mortgage crisis that has sent repossessions soaring and prices into freefall.
The bus follows a pre-determined route through residential neighbourhoods and stops at up to a dozen empty houses already repossessed by lenders. The passengers disembark and size up the premises as they decide whether to offer an asking price often already below the open-market value…
“It’s really a rolling classroom with realtors, a lawyer, a property appraiser and a mortgage broker aboard with the buyers and investors. People can get a good idea of what’s available.”
And there’s plenty available.
The growing popularity of the six-hour “foreclosure express” tour is one symptom of the worst housing crisis to afflict the Sunshine State in recent years, a slump set off by the sub-prime mortgage crisis that has sent repossessions soaring and prices into freefall.
The bus follows a pre-determined route through residential neighbourhoods and stops at up to a dozen empty houses already repossessed by lenders. The passengers disembark and size up the premises as they decide whether to offer an asking price often already below the open-market value…
“It’s really a rolling classroom with realtors, a lawyer, a property appraiser and a mortgage broker aboard with the buyers and investors. People can get a good idea of what’s available.”
And there’s plenty available.
Posted: Sat - March 29, 2008 at 01:48 PM