Arizona auction features 1,690 properties

More foreclosure homes across the south East Valley are hitting the auction block next month.

California-based REDC will be auctioning off nearly 1,690 properties in the Valley, Tucson and Lake Havasu on April 4-5 at Phoenix Convention Center, April 6 and 11 at Mesa Convention Center, and April 11 at Tucson Convention Center.

www.auction.com

Ariz. home foreclosures rise 23% in Feb.

REDC auctioned off 32,799 bank-owned homes nationally last year, up from 5,000 in 2007. In January it auctioned off 972 foreclosure homes in Arizona for $60.7 million, including 391 properties at an auction in Mesa for nearly $26 million."The foreclosure crisis is big in Arizona and while it's very sad that some people have lost their homes through foreclosure, REDC is absolutely the silver lining in this crisis," said Rick Weinberg, company spokesman. "When a home sits vacant, as many of these homes have, the home starts to deteriorate, the neighborhood starts to deteriorate and nobody's making money. We put a family back into these homes. They're paying a mortgage, property taxes, gas, electric and phone bills, which all moves the economy forward."

Even without auctions, foreclosure homes are moving relatively quickly off the local market, said East Valley real estate agent Jay Thompson. However, the inventory isn't dropping because the pace of foreclosures hitting the market hasn't slowed, he said.

"A lot of foreclosures are just totally trashed out, but a lot of them aren't," he said. "If a lender lists a foreclosed home that's in reasonable shape, it will sell, it doesn't need an auction to help it sell."

All of the homes in the Mesa auctions will be available for touring from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

"It's really important that they go to these open houses and they inspect the homes because you want to know what you're buying," Weinberg said. "They'll get a better sense of how much they want to bid with these homes."

People who have attended auctions before will know what to expect, while the experience can be overwhelming for first-time participants, he said.

"It's important that when they go to the auction, to just sit back and take in the atmosphere for the first half-hour, the reason being is the pace of these auctions is very, very quick," Weinberg said. "It's like watching the Phoenix Suns run five fast breaks."

Participants are required to bring a $5,000 cashier's check ($10,000 for each additional property) and a government-issued ID. If the down payment exceeds the amount of the cashiers check, the winning bidder must cover the balance with a personal check.

"There will definitely be competing bids," Weinberg said. "In just about all of our auctions we end up selling probably about 90 percent of the homes."

Auctions are most suited to investors, while the process may be too hurried for families looking for a home in which to live, Thompson said.

"They're going to want to be able to think about it, and not necessarily have to have the cash requirements that the auction requires," he said.

In general, there's a lot more serious buyers in the existing home market who either want or need to buy a home, and they're not hesitating, he said.