Buy A Home For Less Than A New Car

ATLANTA -- The foreclosure crisis is putting so much pressure on home prices that Cobb, Clayton, Gwinnett, Fulton and DeKalb counties have more than 1000 homes on the market for less than $40,000.

In Southeast Atlanta, the price on the bungalow at 2159 Burroughs Avenue is so low, even the listing agent was surprised.

"It's astonishing, and it's not burned down," said Real Estate Agent Steve Copeland. "We've done price reductions on it, and we're down to $15,000 now."

Copeland said the land alone is worth twice that, but finding a buyer has been tough.

His most recent offer fell through right before closing.

"It was vandalized in the meantime, so the buyer walked away from the deal," Copeland said.

"This is a lot better than a lot of the ones we've seen, to be honest," said Cassandra Black, CEO of Foreclosure Cleanup, LLC. "This one's in better shape."

Black's company was hired to secure the property to keep vandals from doing more damage.

She's often hired by real estate agents and banks to spruce up foreclosures before they hit the market. But not this time.

"The bank's not spending any money to fix this up," Black said. "They've already taken a big hit, but they want it safe and presentable."

Vandals have already punched holes in walls and destroyed the kitchen in search of copper wiring to sell for cash.

The house was built in 1950. It's a three-bedroom, one bath that appraised for $100,000.

It was originally listed for $96,000.

But that was last year before foreclosure and before all of the damage that could cost tens of thousands to repair.

The price now, $15,900, can't go much lower.

"It's unbelievable, but the bank's got to get rid of these," Copeland said.