These tourists aren’t just sightseeing

Bus trip to foreclosed homes jump starts sales for agency

Friday, June 20, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Submitted photo Long and Foster foreclosure bus tour participants get ready to board the bus that took them to about 10 distressed properties on May 17. The Waldorf realty firm will hold another tour on Saturday. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

The tours, which take up to 30 potential home buyers around Charles County to view eight to 10 distressed real estate-owned properties, are meant to educate home buyers about what’s entailed in buying and financing a foreclosure and provide an opportunity for Long and Foster agents and partners at its Waldorf office to make contact with potential customers looking for a steal.

‘‘A lot of people have no clue what they’re getting themselves into. It’s like anything else in life, it’s a risk,” said real estate agent Linda Curtis, who’s helping organize the firm’s second tour on Saturday.

‘‘They don’t understand the processes can be time-consuming and frustrating,” added agent Angel Bracy-Miller.

About 30 people attended the first-ever Charles County tour May 17. When participants call to sign up for the tour they are directed to a participating agent, who fields questions and offers more information.

While no sales have resulted from the last tour, participating agents and partners say it was an educational experience that piqued their interest.

‘‘Some, they may not buy a foreclosure but end up buying a resale property,” said Marie Paris, loan officer for Prosperity Mortgage, which operates in the Long and Foster office.

Participants will be taken to properties listed at or below $300,000 in Waldorf, La Plata and White Plains. Any of the 48 Charles County foreclosure properties to get on the list must be bank-owned, vacant and safe, which is checked by agent Dale Servetnik beforehand.

The idea came down from the Long and Foster regional office, which asked Southern Maryland branches to do it after Northern Virginia branches found success with the tours.

‘‘People believe that buying a foreclosure home is going to be a good deal. And it can be,” said Servetnik of why the branch chose only to show foreclosures versus resale homes in the same price range.

The team of eight agents, and Brennan Title Co., Prosperity Mortgage and Amerispec inspection service, all have a planning responsibility for the coming event and will each fork out about $100 for the 15-passenger van, advertising, goodie bags, breakfast and lunch for all participants. There’s no cost to participants.

‘‘By lunchtime, it’s kind of fun to get together and talk further about the houses,” Paris said.

‘‘I market their office frequently. They started talking about it and they were getting a good response from the clients. We had a great turnout. They’re very hands-on. They just like their clients to have ready availability to mortgage and title company. In particular, just the way the market is and all the foreclosures, it’s the perfect time to do it because the buyers can get such a great deal right now. I don’t think a lot of the clients know what a title company does. I can go in ahead of time and know what we do. That’s the benefit to me. The keys get exchanged at our table,” said Lisa Borza of Brennan Title Co. in Waldorf.

‘‘It gives us an opportunity to get out to people in the home buying process and expose our business. They could be assured that they weren’t going to get into the money pit. The firm asked us to be a part of that so people could have a resource available,” said Walter Clews, Amerispec home inspector, of the last bus tour. Clews said he will participate again.

‘‘They’re interested in the deals. It was an overview. We didn’t get down to the details. They need the home inspector to find the things they can’t see,” he said.

Foreclosures make up about 10 to 15 percent of the company’s business, Clews said.

Paris said none of the participants expressed any kind of sadness about touring the homes that were formerly occupied by families who couldn’t make ends meet but said, ‘‘Of course, that’s something that’s weighing on their minds.”

The last tour drew a crowd of a wide age range — 25- to 55-year-olds with varied long-term investment and live-in interests.

Courtenaye Anderson went on the bus tour last month and plans to attend again this weekend because it was a way to learn more about the business of buying a distressed property and to see multiple homes in a short amount of time.

‘‘I was interested in purchasing a foreclosure for several reasons — affordable housing and hopefully a home with a solid foundation and structure that might need some repair but not necessarily a total overhaul,” Anderson said.

‘‘This would be a primary residence for me. I’d done research but felt much more confident about purchasing a foreclosure after the tour. I’m going again because I would like to see what houses, properties are available now that would be a better fit for me and my family.”

‘‘It’s a great time to get into the market. Right now, sellers are giving up everything. We just threw in a house full of furniture to close a deal,” said Bill Pflug, a Long and Foster agent.

‘‘They have time to look and ask for the world,” Bracy-Miller added.

That’s not to mention that for those with good credit, interest rates remain low — around 6 to 7 percent — and many Federal Housing Administration loans currently favor buyers.

The agent team said in the near future it will organize more bus trips in various price ranges and geographic areas, and maybe even some resale bus tours, if demand warrants them.