Foreclosures have been in the headlines for months now. I received an email today that was trying to sell 1 of 10276 Colorado Foreclosures, HUD Homes, Pre-Foreclosures, and Bank REO’s. But, what do all these foreclosures mean to the average person?

It depends on where you are in the real estate market. If you have a house that you are comfortable with, or if you have no interest in buying or selling a house, then this information does not really affect you.

However, if you are looking to buy a house, or you wish to sell your current house, then this information should be of great interest to you.

For people looking to buy a house, the large number of foreclosures means that house prices are very attractive because supply greatly outstrips demand. In many areas you can buy a house at less than half the price that they were selling for only a couple of years ago. The glut of foreclosures means that this is a great time to find a great value on a house of your own.

For homeowners who are looking to sell their current home, the large number of foreclosures is depressing real estate values throughout the whole market. Your property is competing with hundreds of other properties that the banks are trying to sell from their portfolios. Again, with supply far outweighing demand you may have to lower your price to compete with all the other houses for sale in order to attract a buyer.

Many factors have come together to make this best time to buy a house in the Denver area for a generation.

These factors are:

Low house prices. In many areas of Denver you can buy a house for less money than it costs to build the house.

Low interest rates. Interest rates are the lowest they have been in over 25 years. You can get a 30 year fixed rate mortgage for around 5%

Government programs to assist home buyers.
FHA is offering special programs to help first time home buyers with financing programs to minimize the amount of down payment required or to help help with fix-up costs.
The government is offering a tax credit of $8,000 for first time home buyers, and $6,500 for existing home owners if they buy a house. But you need to hurry, this program requires that you have a signed real estate contract by April 30, 2010.

Motivated sellers. Banks have many houses that they have foreclosed on that they need to resell. They do not want to be real estate owners. They are willing to make you a good deal on these houses.

If you have ever wanted to own your own home or have wanted to buy the house of your dreams. now is the time to act. While you may not see the house you buy now appreciate in value by the double digit rate that we saw in the past few years, the low monthly payment afforded by the low interest rate mortgages still make this the perfect time to buy.