More Than 50% Would Be At Least Somewhat Likely To Consider Purchasing a Foreclosed Home

by Tammy

Real estate site Trulia.com released the findings of a survey they conducted about forclosures and how people felt about them this week.  Trulia partnered with Harris Interactive and asked 2,033 US adults a series of questions regarding the purchase of foreclosed homes over a 3 day period in late April, 2008.

Some of the highlights of the survey data:
While 69 percent of those surveyed feel that there are negative aspects to purchasing a foreclosed home, more than 50% would be at least somewhat likely to consider purchasing a foreclosed home.

Of the survey respondents mentioning negative aspects of purchasing a foreclosed home:

• 69% cited hidden costs
• 35% considered the prospect risky
• 33% mentioned the possibility of the home losing value

To help address the “foreclosure fears”, Trulia has had their experts provide tips for anyone who is interested in purchasing a foreclosed home.  These include prioritizing your needs, talking to experts, being current on neighborhood values, making an inspection mandatory, avoiding a pre-foreclosure sale, and buying at the right time.

Also of note according to the survey data, some groups of consumers are more likely to consider the purchase of a foreclosed home.  A couple of interesting points according to the survey:

• Single/never married adults (60 percent) are more likely to be at least somewhat likely to consider purchasing a foreclosure versus married (50 percent) or divorced/separated/widowed adults (50 percent).
• Male respondents are more likely to be at least somewhat likely to consider purchasing a foreclosed home compared with female respondents (57 percent versus 51 percent).
• Respondents with children in the household are more likely to be at least somewhat likely to consider purchasing a foreclosed home versus those who have no children in their household (66 percent versus 50 percent).
• 20 percent of U.S. adults said that having a personal connection with someone who lost their home to foreclosure is a negative aspect of purchasing a foreclosed home.

One last interesting tid-bit released by Trulia – according to their own data on who is searching for what on their site, searches for foreclosures on Trulia.com more than tripled in the first quarter of 2008. 

Wow!  That is a lot of data to digest!

--Tammy