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player ready...In a down real estate market, they came to buy. They came early, they came in numbers and they came with bank checks for $5,000.
By 10 a.m. on this Saturday, more than 700 people filled a hall in the convention center here for what real estate agents say is the largest auction of foreclosed properties in Minnesota, with more than 300 houses or apartments for sale in two days. Opening bids ranged from $1,000 — for a three-bedroom house — to $729,000, for a five-bedroom house on 11.9 acres. The crowd was standing-room only, with more waiting to enter. Some were looking for homes, others for investments.
“It’s a symptom of the foreclosure crisis,” said Jim Davnie, a Minnesota state representative who sponsored a newly enacted bill to regulate subprime mortgage lending. “And it’s a cause for concern that through this auction, areas that are already hit by the foreclosure crisis will now be hit by investors who are buying up properties to rent them out, which makes neighborhoods less stable.”
But in the overcrowded hall, the misery of subprime loans, exploding adjustable-rate mortgages and slumping real estate sales meant opportunity.
“Who’s got $150,000?” said the auctioneer, Mark Buleziuk, motor-mouthing the sale of a four-bedroom house worth $234,000.
The auction involved a fraction of foreclosures across the state. Julie Gugin, executive director of the non-profit Minnesota Homeownership Center, sees the statewide tally at 20,000 this year, up from 11,000 last .
But instead of alarming buyers about the risks of speculation, the auction on this scale was an invitation to speculators, small and large.
“This is our chance to buy a home and start our financial future,” said Pearl Dobbins, who said she was willing to spend up to $50,000.