Foreclosure Bus Tour, Sign of Housing Bust, Hits New York Area

The white bus with the magnetic sign saying "Long Island Foreclosure Tours'' pulled up to a small home in East Meadow, Long Island, and spilled out its cargo: a dozen homebuyers looking to save $100,000 or more.

"You have some mold issues; you can definitely assume some water issues,'' said Dean Miller, a broker on the tour. Then again, he said, the asking price for the 1951 Cape Cod at 68 Lois Court was $312,900, down from $457,101 in February.

The foreclosure tour, mobile proof of the U.S. housing bust, has rolled into the New York City market. For $75, prospective buyers on the Long Island version last month got velour banquettes, a supply of potato chips and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and visits to eight foreclosed homes, with a general contractor and home inspector in tow.

And the broker, Miller, who continued his pitch for the three-bedroom, one-bath Cape Cod. "You're in a quiet cul-de-sac in a very nice community for $100,000 less than the surrounding homes,'' he told the prospective buyers.

Potential bargains abound in the market. In April, 502 Nassau County homes, or one for every 913 in the county, entered the foreclosure process, more than double the number a year ago, according to RealtyTrac Inc., of Irvine, California.

Prices Fall

The median home price in the county fell 2.3 percent to $449,500 in the first quarter, and inventory rose 6.5 percent to 9,862 homes, New York-based appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. said.

Foreclosures are scattered across otherwise healthy neighborhoods, offering New Yorkers a chance to move up to a house they wouldn't ordinarily be able to afford. The East Meadow home, surrounded by similarly modest houses on small lots, is a 45- minute commute from Manhattan.