March 13, 2008

All Aboard the Foreclosure Bus!

Hoping to stir up business and create a little excitement in the market, enterprising real-estate agents around the country are creating “foreclosure tours” — packing potential buyers into buses and cruising from one distressed property to another, according to this Inman News story.

The story notes that a “60 Minutes” piece about the housing slump featured weekly tours offered by Stockton agent Cesar Dias.  The tours were so popular that Dias decided to franchise his idea, helping other agents set up tours in their areas.  He is trying to trademark “Repo Home Tour,” which is also the name of his Web site.

The home page of Repohometour.com contains links to more than a dozen foreclosure-tour arrangers in California, Florida, Texas, and Nevada.  Dias advises franchisees to buy buses and customize them inside and out for maximum marketing bang for the buck, according to this story in the Stockton Record newspaper.

The Inman story mentions Santa Clarita agent and distressed-property specialist Rick Murray, who has been offering foreclosure tours since December:

“It’s exciting but pretty damn depressing,” he said, as home values are suffering in the community. The shuttle bus tours typically draw about 10-12 folks, he said, and many of the interested buyers are first-time buyers from outside of the area who had previously been priced out of the market.

Dias says he’s been part of 15 to 20 sales per month since he started doing repo tours.  With many agents struggling to weather the down market, it’s no wonder that some are getting on the bus.

Recent Redfin posts:
More Celebs in Eagle Rock
Some Troubling Foreclosure Trends