At least one local real estate agent has found a silver lining to the current housing crisis.
Alexandria real estate agent Christin Patti is organizing a free “foreclosure bus tour,” scheduled to depart from Old Town April 19.
“Properties across Northern Virginia are being sold tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars lower than their assessed value and last sale price,” Patti said this week on her blog. “Foreclosed properties offer some of the best values out on the market today.”
As housing values drop and the interest rates on millions of adjustable-rate mortgages reset to higher levels, homeowners across the nation have been increasingly susceptible to foreclosure. Banks are often willing to sell foreclosed properties at a loss when they languish on the market.
There were 65 foreclosure filings in Alexandria in February alone — a 950 percent increase fromlast year — according to real estate data company RealtyTrac.
But Alexandria, with one foreclosure filing for every 1,086 households, is in much better shape than several surrounding jurisdictions.
Fairfax County had one filing for every 360 households, and the region’s most foreclosure-plagued county — Prince William — had one for every 110 homes. Patti’s four-hour bus tour — which already has drawn several RSVPs — will stop at between 15 and 20 foreclosed properties.
“We will have a mortgage specialist on hand to answer questions, information from top contractors to review common homeowner remodeling mistakes, and a Realtor on hand,” she said.
