Real Estate Road Trips Scout Troubled Market

"As a buyer, you can still get in with zero money out of your pocket," she said, adding that banks are so eager to sell foreclosed properties that they are offering cash back to provide borrowers with enough for a down payment and closing costs.

"It's a good way for first-time home buyers to get into the market," she said.

Connie and Patrick Pittman, browsing for their first home, were listening carefully. They are renting an apartment in Alexandria but want a house before starting a family. They were looking for something in the $300,000 to $400,000 range, as close as possible to their jobs in Arlington County.

"I'm from South Texas, so I'm used to big spaces," Connie Pittman said. "A $300,000 home there is completely different."

As the tour illustrated, that amount of money will buy a lot more in Northern Virginia now than a year ago. One stop on the tour was a massive townhouse in Centreville that sold for $519,000 in February 2007 and is now listed at $399,000. Then there was a hearty brick rambler on a quiet Manassas Park street with a huge yard, hardwood floors and a finished basement. Asking price: $284,000.

"This has obviously been kept up by somebody who cared for it," Patrick Pittman said, revealing a tinge of foreclosure-shopper's guilt.

"I'm amazed that this hasn't been sold," Denise Kempton, a real estate agent, told them. "For a first-time home buyer, you can't beat the prices in Prince William."

Jeffries found the boat-storage area ample enough for her Town Car, but she wasn't looking for a longer commute. "You pick this up and move it to Centreville, and I'll take it," she said.

Manassas area properties were the last stops. By then, the tour participants had thinned out. Several said they weren't interested in seeing Prince William houses, even though prices were significantly lower. They cited the extra commute, school quality and political tensions over the county's policies toward illegal immigration.

"Most people aren't going for price," Bogenn said. "They gauge by commute time."