Lot of comments… during the course of the crisis my impression was many folks were not thinking about buying real estate. The reasons could have been lack of funds, lack of time/interest, lack of awareness, bearish attitude on housing, or something else. The turning point in house buying interest occurred, when media started writing about the money made by the hedge funds and serial flippers. During the crisis most of the reports were about how people walked away from their house by mailing their keys.
Even during the bubble years and long before the hedge funds came into picture, bank owned foreclosure homes were available for purchase directly from the bank’s websites (including bofa, chase, citi, jpmorgan, …). One had to just contact the bank representative listed for the property and buy it with finance (if eligible) or for cash. I can not say if all the listings were in desirable areas, but there were good priced properties in familiar zip codes. My observation was in early stages the reo homes listed were in decent shape, however as the years rolled the homes were in dire need of work (missing appliances, ripped walls, stolen copper, etc)
When it comes to real estate majority of the buyers want their realtors to provide guidance. There are some great resourceful realtors who are truly helpful to the buyer, but am afraid most are interested in just getting their slice of the transaction. With the technology and resources available mostly free or for the cost of an email address, Jane and Joe Sixpack can monetize without needing any insider connections.
