After Champion Realty displayed a sign advertising foreclosure listings outside its Pasadena office, "people have been coming in left and right to get that," Cantalupo said.
But they often expect too deep of a price discount or don't realize it can take several months for the bank that foreclosed on the home to approve the sale.
Sellers in February got 88.1 percent, on average, of their asking price, compared with 91 percent a year ago. It took an average of more than 4 1/2 months to sell a home in the metro area last month, MRIS said, slightly longer than in February 2008.
Michaelangelo Riccobene has had no offers on his five-bedroom waterfront rancher on Stony Creek in Pasadena since listing it in September and dropping the price twice to just under $1.2 million. He bought the home 12 years ago and has remodeled it. It has a sunroom, den, two fireplaces and a pool house.
"It's not the right time to sell, but I don't really have a choice," said Riccobene, a residential remodeling contractor. "Business has slowed down. My choice was to go ahead and sell and relax instead of worrying about the mortgage payments."
Now he is throwing in his $80,000 boat as part of the package.
"I either continue lowering my price or I give something away that no one else is doing," Riccobene said. "You have to be creative."
Buyers are simply not rushing into the market.
Chuck Eaton, an accountant for FTI Consulting, said he hopes to buy a home with his fiancee and rent out her townhouse.
"It seems like a perfect time to do it, now that home prices are dropping," Eaton said. "I really have an idea of what I want in a house. If it doesn't look right, I don't take time to look. There's plenty of stuff out there."
