Foreclosed Houses Unloaded at Auction

Buyers Snap Up Homes at Bargain Prices

Trisha Bayles, who has been saving for years to buy her first home, got flustered when bidding started on the house she wanted in Laurel.

"This guy in front of me said it was going for $210,000 and next thing I know the auctioneer is in the aisle saying: 'You want it for $200,000?' " Bayles said. "I'm like: 'Okay, sure.' Then I was like: 'Did I get the house?' And then it was like: 'Yes, yes. I got it!' "

In a matter of minutes, the 34-year-old had agreed to buy a two-story red brick home for less than half of the $465,000 price it sold for about a year ago.

On display at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center yesterday was the flip side of the gloomy consequences of the foreclosure crisis: a cheery scene of back slaps, congratulatory handshakes -- and more than a few jitters -- as people like Bayles snapped up homes at bargain prices.

Wearing tuxedos, auction assistants scurried up and down the aisles, pointing fingers, shouting numbers, pushing to offload houses on behalf of some of the nation's largest lenders. By this afternoon, they want to be rid of about 400 single family homes, townhouses and condominiums in the area. More than 4,000 registered bidders were expected to cycle through the two-day event.

"It's surreal," said Rick Weinberg, spokesman for Real Estate Disposition Corp., the auction firm. "On one side of this equation, there's total darkness and on the other side, the sun is shining brightly."

Long before yesterday, Bayles had been eyeing the small home in Laurel. But when she made a bid on it, she learned that the lender had yanked it off the market two days earlier to put it up for auction.

This is a common tactic for lenders who want to cut their losses. Instead of leaving a home to languish, many will turn it over to an auction company and move on.

The home Bayles bid on was listed by the lender for $285,000 when she spotted it. Yesterday, the four-bedroom colonial came with a killer opening bid: $99,000.

"It's moldy," said her father, William Bayles, who was with his daughter yesterday. "We're going to have to do a lot of work on it."

Bayles finished the paperwork on site. She plans to pay $23,000 for down payment and closing costs, money she said she has been saving "all of my life."

If all goes as planned, Bayles will end up with a government-backed construction loan that will allow her to pay for the needed renovations.