Luxury Foreclosures

Washington Post (05/15/08) P. D1; Marr, Kendra
Across the country, homes originally priced at $1 million or more increasingly are going into foreclosure as the adjustable-rate and interest-only mortgages taken out by affluent buyers and investors become unaffordable. In Loudoun County, Va., where a Washington Post analysis reveals an 8-percent decline in median price to $492,000 in 2007 from $535,000 in 2006, 60 homes valued above $750,000 are in foreclosure out of a total of 932 foreclosures and short sales. Market Advantage Real Estate agent Tony Arko notes, "We're seeing the first group of people who got in way too high and bought at the top of the marketplace in the middle of 2005 and end of 2006." Bill Milletary of Century 21 Redwood Realty believes prices in Loudoun County ultimately will return to levels seen more than a decade ago.