Indianapolis #9 best place to buy foreclosures(notice i didnt say # of foreclosures, I said BUY foreclosures)!

Lee’s notes: Forbes Magazine gave Indianapolis some love with rating us #9 in the country to BUY foreclosures… The deals are in distressed properties, cause a lot of people can get good prices on homes in good shape. I have seen a lot of vacant homes as of late though!

9. Indianapolis, Ind.
Median home price: $112,109
Foreclosure savings: $6,695
Foreclosure rate: 2.01%
Price change 2006-2007: -0.07%

A 2% foreclosure rate combined with a slow market has produced one of the nation’s highest vacancy rates. This market’s relatively low median home sale price means the market doesn’t have a long way to go before it bottoms out. Still, given the area’s inventory glut, sellers–especially those with distressed properties–will likely have to shave more than $6,695 off the price to make a sale.

To compile our list, we started with the country’s 100 largest metro areas and ranked them by annual foreclosure rate, based on data from RealtyTrac, a listing firm that tracks foreclosures. To give a sense of scale, hard-hit markets have foreclosure rates in the 3% or 4% range. Riverside, Calif., has a foreclosure rate of 3.8%, and Detroit has a foreclosure rate of 4.9%. By contrast, Seattle, has a foreclosure rate of 0.4%, and Austin, Texas, has a rate of 0.8%, two figures which are within a healthy range for foreclosures, as all markets, at all times, have them.

Our goal was to differentiate inexpensive foreclosure markets from those that are undervalued, as cheap foreclosures in flimsy markets don’t necessarily make strong investments. One can score a deal on a house in Detroit, for example, but there are long odds on recouping costs due to the area’s current economic environment and that housing market’s depression. If Detroit were adding jobs, or were a more hospitable location for business, it could be a good comeback play. But as it stands, it’s not a housing market where you want any amount of your money.

Only cities on Forbes’ best places list, which measures criteria such as quality of life and the local economy (labor and energy costs, the regulatory environment, taxes) to find markets, such as Raleigh, N.C., or Oklahoma City, where foreclosures aren’t symptomatic of local economic ruin, were measured.

Then, we looked at how real estate prices have moved since 2006, based on data from Moody’s Economy.com. No city has seen massive median price jumps, but making a foreclosure buy in San Antonio, where prices grew 8.24% between 2006 and 2007, carries far less risk than Sacramento, where prices dropped approximately 10% over that same time period.

What’s happening to home prices in your community? Weigh in. Add your thoughts in the Reader Comments section below.

Next, we looked at the spread between median prices and foreclosure prices, with data supplied by RealtyTrac, to determine where banks and sellers were offering the largest discounts on foreclosed properties. Stubborn sellers looking for full value aren’t as helpful to a bargain hunter as sellers willing to make a short sale–where the home is sold for under the outstanding loan value–in order to unload a property quickly.

By this measure, Charlotte, N.C., performs very well. Foreclosure prices are 28% below median prices, for an average savings of $56,874. Not bad in a market where the median sales price is $147,299. Foreclosures and real-estate-owned properties are available through local listing agents, though the most comprehensive databases are found in the online depositories of companies like RealtyTrac. As always, if you like what I write, and you or someone you know is looking to buy, sell, and or invest using a great realtor in central Indiana, or anyplace else for that matter. Please feel free to send me the persons name, email, address, and or phone number and I will be happy to help them, or refer them to someone else who can… In the process, I may earn a referral fee, if i cant help them myself!