Fla. Real Estate Agent Offers Foreclosure Tours
Prospective home buyers file off of real estate agent Marc Joseph's "Foreclosure Tours R Us" bus - Prospective home buyers file off of real estate agent Marc Joseph's "Foreclosure Tours R Us" bus in Lee County, Fla., where the housing boom has turned into a bust. (Jim Zarroli, NPR)
Real estate agent Marc Joseph always figured that when he turned 40 and hit his midlife crisis, he'd go out and buy an expensive sports car — maybe a Porsche or a Viper.
Instead, he ended up sinking his money into the green bus.
Joseph offers tours of bank-owned properties in Lee County, Fla., where the housing boom has turned into a bust faster than you can say "sheriff's sale."
(Jim Zarroli, NPR)
Foreclosures are something of a growth industry in the area these days, with about 40 coming on the market each day, and Joseph noticed not long ago that everywhere he went, people were asking him about how to find them.
So he bought a bus from a church, painted it green and printed "Foreclosure Tours R Us" across the side.
"As a business owner with years of experience, when you realize your business is starting to suffer, you need to make a move or you're going to be put out of business. My move was the green bus, selling foreclosures," Joseph said.
(Jim Zarroli, NPR)
The tours are only a few months old, but Joseph says they are luring a lot of bargain-hunters into the area.
On a recent Saturday morning, Joseph and his staff drove about a dozen people through the streets of Cape Coral, a city of about 160,000 people on the Gulf of Mexico. For three hours, they visited nearly a dozen bank-owned properties, many of which had been marked down more than 50 percent. They included:
-- A four-bedroom, three-bathroom house with an in-ground pool that last sold for $741,500 in March 2006; it's on the market now for $369,900
-- A three-bedroom ranch house on a freshwater canal selling for $143,500, having been sold just 17 months ago for $316,800
-- A five-year-old, three-bedroom condo with Italian-marble floors selling for $284,900; it sold for $480,000 in December 2006
The real estate fervor that gripped Florida and other states during the easy-money days of 2005 and '06 has left a glut of unsold properties. Fishkind and Associates estimates that Lee County has a three- to five-year inventory of unsold homes, compared with one year in normal times.
As a result, homes can now be bought for well under the replacement cost, Joseph says.
"There is a lot of inventory on the market, and there's a lot more coming," Joseph says. "The key to understanding what's happening is that when these foreclosures are gone, and we've cleaned up our subprime problem, we will be back to our original market. And that is going to be the point at which everyone is going to say they wish they had done something."
Those showing up for the tour included a Canadian couple eager to take advantage of the favorable exchange rate by buying a retirement home; a Michigan businessman eager to relocate to the area; and a couple hoping to buy an inexpensive condo for their daughter, who has a low-paying bank job.
Prices are "very reasonable. I was down here when they were at their peak, and they've really dropped drastically," said Leo Felber, a retiree with family in the area. He had tried to buy before, but prices were too high.
"I can afford what's down here now," he said.
In fact, the silver lining of the real estate downturn has been that housing has become affordable again. During the boom, working people such as teachers, police officers and service workers had trouble buying homes in the county, says Shelton Weeks, professor of real estate at Florida Gulf Coast University. The high housing costs made recruiting employees into the area much harder, Weeks says.
Joseph says he started the foreclosure tours to keep his business going, earning commissions when he sells bank-owned properties. But Joseph, who grew up in Fort Myers, also believes he is helping Lee County bounce back from the housing bust.
"I'm taking the product off the market that's driving our economy down," he says, "and I'm taking the product that is on the market and putting it in the hands of people who deserve it — [the buyers] who couldn't afford it two and a half years ago."
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STEVE INSKEEP, host:
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And I'm Renee Montagne.
There are a lot of homes for sale in Lee County, Florida. Real estate prices exploded when the market was humming a few years ago. That was before lots and lots of foreclosures sent prices tumbling and turned Lee County into a giant bargain basement for house hunters. Analysts say it will take three to five years to work through the unsold inventory.
For the second of two reports, NPR's Jim Zarroli rode around with a real estate agent who's trying to turn the glut of bank-owned properties to his advantage.
JIM ZARROLI: Every day in Lee County, some 40 new foreclosed homes come onto the market. And right now, real estate agent Marc Joseph and his staff of three are climbing out of their bright green bus to inspect one.
Mr. MARC JOSEPH (Real Estate Agent): Three bedroom, two bath, built in the year 2000, has 2,132 square feet of living. It's $.47 on the dollar.
ZARROLI: The house exemplifies the dramatic downturn in the real estate market here. It sold for $685,000 less than two years ago. The bank took it over and is now trying to unload it for $325,000. That's a drop of more than 50 percent.
Joseph and his staff split up to inspect the property. He says before people surrender their homes to the bank, they often strip them bare, taking appliances, light fixtures, even closet doors.
Mr. JOSEPH: They're in a financial crisis, so some of things that they can get cash for are pool pumps, pool heaters, and air conditioners. And even thought they're selling them off very cheap, it's still movie money and gas money for somebody that may be in a financial crisis.
ZARROLI: This house is in pretty good shape.
Mr. JOSEPH: Monty, how did the rooms look?
MONTY: Bathroom right there, around the tub needs drywall where the faucets are. It's all caved in.
Mr. JOSEPH: Okay.
MONTY: But overall, it's not too bad. It looks pretty good.
Mr. JOSEPH: Okay. Very good. Jen, how about our kitchen? Tell me about our kitchen.
ZARROLI: Joseph decides to show the home on his next foreclosure tour. A few months ago, Joseph noticed something. There were an incredible number of foreclosures happening in the area, and everywhere he went people asked about them. They wanted in on the great deals.
Mr. JOSEPH: Real estate is feast or famine. Right now, there's a lot of famine going on, and I'm a survivor. What a better business model than to buy a bus and take them out and show them foreclosures?
ZARROLI: Joseph painted the bus bright green and printed Foreclosure Tours R Us on the side. It was so gaudy, his homeowner's association wouldn't let him park it in his driveway overnight. But the tours are drawing customers, and the money he earns from commissions is keeping his business going through the downturn.
Mr. JOSEPH: So as far as the waterfront wonderland of Florida, it's Cape Coral.
ZARROLI: The next morning, about a dozen people show up for a tour. Joseph stands in front of the bus with a microphone, tossing quips like a standup comic. He says he always figured that when he turned 40, he'd buy a Porsche. Instead, he marked his midlife crisis with a green bus.
A few people laugh politely. The crowd here is a serious one, intent on finding the good deals. Joseph has connections with the banks, so he often hears about foreclosures before other agents. Some of the homes we see are in pristine shape, but there are also ranches with weedy driveways and algae-filled pools.
The group includes a Canadian couple taking advantage of the weak U.S. dollar, and two locals who want to buy a condo for their daughter. There's also Leo Felber, a retired courier who says he's tired of shoveling snow in Rhode Island. He says prices here have grown more reasonable.
Mr. LEO FELBER: I was down here when they were at their peak, and they've really dropped drastically.
ZARROLI: Did you think of buying before?
Mr. FELBER: Not when the prices were high. No. I mean, they were just too high. I mean, I can afford what's down here now.
ZARROLI: That is the silver lining in the real estate crisis. Marc Joseph says a lot of people who couldn't afford to buy in Lee County two years ago, including teachers and cops and service workers, can suddenly do so again.
Joseph knows that some people seem him as an opportunist, profiting from other people's misfortunes. But he insists he's helping the area recover.
Mr. JOSEPH: I'm helping the economy out by taking the product off the market that's driving our economy down. And I'm taking the product that is driving the economy down and I'm putting it in the hands of people who deserve it, the affordable buyers that are out there, that couldn't buy two and a half years ago.
ZARROLI: And buyers, he says, are eager to take advantage of the prices. Two days after the tour, two of the people who rode on the bus call Joseph to say they want to bid on properties they saw.
Jim Zarroli, NPR News.
MONTAGNE: And you can hear the first of Jim's stories on the many home foreclosures in Lee County, Florida at npr.org. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.
