Washington, DC foreclosures

[Nikki Grizzle]

Okay so I am having a difficult time wrapping my head around the endless amount of foreclosures I am seeing in the DC area. First off I am located in North Carolina however, my husband and I go to Alexandria, VA on a regular basis and plan on buying a second home there within the next 2 years. For those who know the area, know you can get to DC in about 5-7 minutes from Old Town. What is going on in that area? I want to jump on all those public foreclosures but am wondering if it is even worth it. These homes are around all the good stuff too like museums, downtown area, the White House. Are investors crawling all over these foreclosures or is that area just a lost cause? In my eyes the place looks like a great area to invest but then again I dont know the market that well. I would be looking to use these as rentals as opposed to flips.

[M Marie M.]

I'm sure you're well aware of some of the issues with condos. I'm not going to name them but a large condo building on Duke St has had a history of problems from failing to keep a decent management company to take care of the maintenance, poor building management, and ever rising condo fees. A friend of mine who lived there once owned a condo and had to let it go because she couldn't get a renter when she transferred for work and had a hard time selling it. And apparently the condo association was run by crazy old biddies. 

Other places where there are lots of foreclosures in a single building make me wonder what's so wrong with that building.

Yes, I am strongly biased against condos so take what I write with a bag of salt. The HOA fees around here are what I think of as crazy high and add that to assessments that could seemingly come out of nowhere.