Bargain hunters have field day with REOs

FORT MYERS, Fla. – July 8, 2008 – Banks that are flooded with foreclosures are dumping them onto the market, and bargain hunters are having a field day. Some observers say prices won’t go any lower.

Mark Partipilo, a Las Vegas real estate investor, isn’t alone in concluding: “In this market, there are so many REOs that the banks are getting their clocks cleaned. This might not be the bottom, but waiting six months might be too late.”

Banks might be reluctant to sell cheap, but most are agreeing. “Banks that are not in Disneyland recognize that these sales are the reality today,” says Denny Grimes, a practitioner and owner of Denny Grimes Co. in Fort Myers, Florida.

“Markets where a large share of homes are heavily discounted because of REO sales, they may be seeing a bottom,” says Cynthia Kroll, an economist and real estate market scholar at the University of California, Berkeley.

Source: Reuters News, Patrick Rucker (07/02/2008)
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