Buyers anxiously await foreclosure deals to go through

[dkf]

Since lenders began halting foreclosure sales elsewhere in the country, Peter Guarino has nervously been calling his real estate agent several times a week to ask what's become of the Burtonsville condominium he snagged at an auction on the courthouse steps in August.

Guarino has ponied up $30,000 for a down payment to buy the foreclosed property. He's signed a contract and now, before heading to settlement, he's waiting for final court approval - unsure whether he will get his money back if the deal fails.

"I thought it was sure thing," he said, "but now I feel so vulnerable."

Although recent steps by banks and government officials to freeze foreclosure sales have primarily affected real estate outside the Washington region, the spreading crisis is also casting a pall on the local market.

Like Guarino, some area residents are increasingly anxious about contracts they've signed to buy foreclosed homes. A few in the Washington region have seen their deals put on ice. And others have decided to no longer consider foreclosures as they go about house hunting.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/08/AR2010100806954.html

[Riley18]

1. Imagine how the original homeowner felt. Sometimes when a deal seems too

good to be true it really isn't such a great deal after all.

[azurnoir]

2. perhaps "grave dancing" isn't such a good idea n/t

[dkf]

3. I was wondering when we would start hating the buyers.

People really do want housing to be provided don't they? You decide you want a house and it is yours forever, no matter if you can afford it or not.

[azurnoir]

5. yeah foreclosure has nothing to withlittle things like job loss n/t

[KittyWampus]

4. What's interesting is there is still plenty of housing stock for sale that isn't in foreclosure

So these buyers need to get over it and find another house.