Falling prices, especially in areas plagued by foreclosures, are enticing thousands to purchase a second home.

Buying a foreclosed home, or an otherwise distressed property, is becoming particularly commonplace in Las Vegas. In January about 80 percent of residential sales in the area were foreclosures, according to the Greater Las Vegas Association of REALTORS®.

To attract buyers, the association is offering bus tours of foreclosed properties and wooing potential international buyers through global advertising.

Foreclosures are also selling well in Florida and Arizona.

Many of the buyers are people who previously wouldn’t have considered a foreclosure, says Randy Paun, sales manager for Exit Realty in Pensacola, Fla. But today’s buyers, he says, are ordinary people enticed by a bargain and willing to do what’s necessary to buy the homes and make them livable.

Source: The New York Times, Jack Duffy (02/19/2009)