If you’re looking to save big on a foreclosure purchase, you should consider buying in one of these 11 towns where foreclosure homes on average sold for at least 50 percent less than homes not in foreclosure during the third quarter of 2011, according to the latest RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Sales Report.
These steep foreclosure discounts are available in a wide range of markets, with a wide range of average home prices. At the high end are markets like San Francisco and Bridgeport, Conn., where the average price of a foreclosure was more than $300,000 — still 50 percent below the average price of homes not in foreclosure in those markets.
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Five metros with foreclosure sales prices under $100,000
On the lower end are five markets where the average price of a foreclosure was less than $100,000: Saginaw, Mich., Toledo, Ohio, Memphis, Tenn., St. Louis, and Milwaukee.
The metro area with the biggest foreclosure discount in the third quarter was Trenton, N.J., where foreclosure homes sold at an average price of $108,302 — a whopping 68 percent below the average sales price of properties not in foreclosure.
Other metros with foreclosure discounts of 50 percent or more were Springfield, Mass., New Haven, Conn., and Atlanta.
10 metros with 50 percent share of foreclosure sales
Sales of properties in the foreclosure process or bank-owned (REO) accounted for 50 percent or more of all sales in 10 metro areas nationwide. Nine out of the 10 were in California, led by Modesto with 66 percent of all sales being properties in foreclosure or bank-owned. Other California cities on the list were Stockton, Vallejo-Fairfield, Merced, Salinas, Riverside-San Bernardino, Fresno, Bakersfield and Sacramento.
Foreclosure sales in Las Vegas accounted for 60 percent of all sales in that metro area, making it the only non-California city on the list.
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