PORT ANGELES — When he moved to Port Angeles in the early 2000s, Doug Timmons found it was a good time to buy real estate.
Prices had deflated in response to hits to the fishing and timer industries, and recovery seemed right around the corner with the addition of Westport Shipyards and the start of the state Department of Transportation’s graving yard.
After acquiring 27 apartments and three houses, the 66-year-old retired aerospace machinist is seeing a similar opportunity. But this time with foreclosed homes.
On Saturday, he joined a dozen other deal seekers on the Distress Express, a tour of eight foreclosed homes in Port Angeles hosted by Coldwell Banker Town & Country Real Estate of Sequim.
“It’s a good time to be investing,” Timmons said, while viewing a three-bedroom, one-story house on A Street.
An opportunity for investment, whether to rent or fix up and resell a home once the housing market improves, appeared to be what attracts people to the tour, said Eric Hegge, a Coldwell Banker broker.
Good time to invest
“They’re more savvy” than most buyers, he said.
In a bus rented from Olympic Bus Lines, Hegge and Dan Erickson, owner of the real estate office, hosted the tour, named for the “distressed properties” it visited.
The tour is brand-new, Hegge said; the first one was held last month in Sequim. None are planned for Jefferson County.
The idea was prompted by the real estate office’s seminars on buying foreclosed homes, he said.
“We’re just trying to bring a different approach to educate the public,” Hegge said.
The tour was informal, with the participants left mostly to view the homes on their own and ask questions.
Rental property
David and Roberta Rodgers of Diamond Point have owned rentals off and on since the 1970s, and were looking for an opportunity to start again.
One home, a small two-bedroom home near Hartnagel Building Supply, seemed promising, said David Rodgers, 73.
It only needed modest work and was small enough to be able to rent at a modest price.
But he said he might try his luck in Arizona, where a friend of his bought a house for $35,000.
“There’s some surprising deals down there,” he added.
While most of the houses on the tour were at least a few decades old, there were few signs of their previous owners.
But in one — a three-bedroom, one-story house constructed only two years ago — the few pieces of furniture yet to be removed, a TV stand and computer desk, provided a solemn reminder that someone recently called the O Street house their home.
Like David and Roberta Rodgers, Timmons said he doesn’t take the foreclosure situation lightly.
“It’s sad to see people lose their homes,” he said.
But, with every cycle in the housing market, someone’s loss can be another person’s gain. And it isn’t necessary to already be a property owner to get a jump ahead.
Buying first homes
Timmons said depressed housing prices have allowed three of his former tenants to purchase their first home.
“There is opportunity,” he said.
Hegge said it can be a good time for people to buy their first home if they can.
But, he added, “It depends on the house you are looking at.
“Just because it’s a foreclosure doesn’t mean it’s a good deal.”
A home inspection is key, Hegge said, and patience helps as well.
The tours will be held again in spring in both Sequim and Port Angeles, he said.
For more information, Coldwell Banker Town & Country Real Estate can be contacted at 360-683-6000.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
