DEL.ICIO.USBidders snap up homes in foreclosure
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Going once, going twice, sold! — a four-bedroom, red brick home in Smyrna. “It was just so fast. I guess that wasn’t for me. There were seven or eight of us bidding for that,” said Cher Algarin of Douglasville.
She and her husband, Frank, attended an auction of hundreds of foreclosed homes Sunday at the Cobb Galleria Centre hoping to score a deal. So did everyone else.
Sara Hopkins/AJC Special
Booklets containing images of homes and bidding information were given bidders at the Real Estate Disposition Corporation auction of 1,400 foreclosed homes in Georgia.
Sara Hopkins/AJC Special
Nicole Brown, of Dallas, Ga., smiles as she leaves the Real Estate Disposition Corporation auction after successfully bidding on a foreclosed home in Dallas for a little over $73,000.
Sara Hopkins/AJC Special
Clark Simon, 31, and Lagi Faamolemole, 21, an engaged couple, hope to purchase a home in Powder Springs.
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Recent headlines:[an error occurred while processing this directive] • Cobb County news
Foreclosures have soared as the economy softened, people lost their jobs, and adjustable-rate mortgages reset at interest levels borrowers couldn’t afford. Making matters worse, a collapse in housing prices left many owing more on their mortgages than their homes were worth — an open invitation to default.
At least 37,273 foreclosure sales occurred in Georgia in 2007 and the first half of this year; during that period, more than 350,000 Georgia homeowners fell at least 60 days behind on their mortgage payments, according to HOPE NOW, an alliance of lenders and consumer groups.
But other peoples’ misfortunes can be some families’ opportunities.
The Algarins, for example, already have a home but were interested in moving up if the price was right. They brought three of their four children to the auction and sat through nearly two hours of bidding before the house they wanted came up on the screen. And then it was over in a flash.
The Smyrna home, valued at $264,900, sold for $205,000 — well below the previous valuation, but much higher than they wanted to pay.
“That was fun, but my nerves are shattered,” Cher Algarin said as she pushed the baby’s stroller toward the exit.
The Algarins will keep looking for a foreclosed home.
“Make me a deal I can’t refuse,” she said.
The auction began Saturday with more than 1,500 dwellings. About 2,500 people showed up that day, and officials of Real Estate Disposition Corp. (REDC), the group conducting the auctions, expected a similar turnout Sunday.
Mary Claire Quella, vice president of REDC, said the crowd was a mix of real estate investors, first-time home buyers and people looking for their second, third or fourth home. “People recognize this is a buyers’ market. We have folks who have been standing on the outside for a lot of years, and they now see the opportunity to get in on the ground floor,” she said.
REDC officials said they have sold more than $2.3 billion in real estate assets around the country so far this year. That’s more than double their $920 million sales volume for all of 2007.
While final sales numbers for this weekend’s auction weren’t available Sunday night, an REDC spokesman said that in May, the company auctioned off 507 residences worth $42.5 million in Atlanta.
The homes are owned by the seller — typically a bank or lending institution — until the new owners take possession. The buyers must come with earnest money. Lenders are at the event to pre-qualify would-be purchasers.
Once the auctioneers start, bidding assistants dressed in tuxedos run up and down the aisles, coaxing and hopping from one bidder to the next. The atmosphere is electric; one bidding assistant Sunday swigged a Red Bull Energy Drink.
The action resumes Monday at the Georgia International Convention Center in Atlanta. REDC goes to Macon on Tuesday and will back in Atlanta next weekend — at the Georgia World Congress Center on Saturday and the International Convention Center on Sunday. Information is available at the auctioneer’s Web site: www.ushomeauction.com.
Not all the homes are sold. If the highest bid comes in too low for the seller, the residence goes back on the auction block later.
Things worked out well Sunday for investor Nicole Brown.
Brown, 38 of Dallas, Ga., bid $70,000 on a house valued at $129,000 and won. Brown said this is her seventh home purchase, but her first auction. The property she bought is only 20 minutes from her personal home and she knows the area well.
The real estate market will eventually rebound, and those who bought low will profit, Brown said. “Everybody needs someplace to live,” she said.
Clark Simon and his fiancee, Lagi Faamolemole, came away disappointed but educated.
Simon, 31, owns a home in Savannah, but the Army has transferred him to Atlanta. He has rented out his old home and is looking for a new abode in the Powder Springs area. He’s ready to paint and beautify and has been watching HGTV for tips.
But the home they wanted sold at a price higher than they expected. Then the transaction fell through. This happened again and again; the house was on the auction block four times. In the end, Simon still didn’t get the house, but officials told him that if the deal fell through again, he could submit a backup bid.
“It was a great learning experience,” said Simon, who is also looking for homes the traditional way. “The worst failure is not trying anything.”
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