More than 450 foreclosed properties located in the D.C. area were auctioned this weekend at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
An estimated 4,500 people on Saturday and Sunday attended the sell-off run by Irvine, Ca.-based real estate auctioneer and broker Real Estate Disposition Corp.
REDC President Jim Corum said auctions were a good way to attempt to assuage the county’s housing crisis.
“I think it helps immensely,” he said. “It’s one of the easiest ways to sell real estate.”
Properties were sold at prices tens of thousands — often hundreds of thousands — of dollars below previously valued prices, which are based on the higher of the appraised value of the property in connection with the most recent mortgage on the property, the most recent asking price, the assessed value or the most recent broker price opinion, according to REDC’s Web site.
“What we try to do is get people back in these homes. These communities need to have people in these homes,” Corum said.
He noted there were some realty representatives at the auction representing individual buyers, as well as some investors, but added, “Our auctions draw a large amount of end-users — people who will be living in the home.”
Bob Grimes, of Alexandria, who was looking for properties near the shore, said the foreclosure crisis had had great repercussions in the Prince William housing market. His 3300-square-foot property remained on the market for about a year and a half before finally being sold for $400,000, he said.
“Prince William County really got hit … hard,” he said. “There’s just no buyers out there.”
Prince William properties had a significant representation at the auction, with 44 properties from Woodbridge alone slated to be auctioned Sunday.
Saturday marked Grimes’ first foreclosure auction, and Corum estimated that was true for about 80 percent of people who attend the company’s auctions.
RealtyTrac, which tracks monthly foreclosures across the country, recently reported that, in August, over 300,000 homes nationwide were foreclosed upon. Prince William had the highest foreclosure rate in Virginia in August, with 1,366 foreclosure properties reported, or 1 in every 95 housing units.
