June 2 (Bloomberg) -- The white bus with the magnetic sign saying ``Long Island Foreclosure Tours'' pulled up to a small home in East Meadow, Long Island, and spilled out its cargo: a dozen homebuyers looking to save $100,000 or more.

The driveway was cracked, and the vinyl siding sagged. There was a ``No Trespassing'' sign on the front door.

``You have some mold issues; you can definitely assume some water issues,'' said Dean Miller, a broker on the tour. Then again, he said, the asking price for the 1951 Cape Cod at 68 Lois Court was $312,900, down from $457,101 in February.

The foreclosure tour, mobile proof of the U.S. housing bust, has rolled into the New York City market. For $75, prospective buyers on the Long Island version last month got velour banquettes, a supply of potato chips and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and visits to eight foreclosed homes, with a general contractor and home inspector in tow.

And the broker, Miller, who continued his pitch for the three-bedroom, one-bath Cape Cod. ``You're in a quiet cul-de-sac in a very nice community for $100,000 less than the surrounding homes,'' he told the prospective buyers.

Potential bargains abound in the market. In April, 502 Nassau County homes, or one for every 913 in the county, entered the foreclosure process, more than double the number a year ago, according to RealtyTrac Inc., of Irvine, California.

Prices Fall

The median home price in the county fell 2.3 percent to $449,500 in the first quarter, and inventory rose 6.5 percent to 9,862 homes, New York-based appraiser Miller Samuel Inc. said.

Foreclosures are scattered across otherwise healthy neighborhoods, offering New Yorkers a chance to move up to a house they wouldn't ordinarily be able to afford. The East Meadow home, surrounded by similarly modest houses on small lots, is a 45- minute commute from Manhattan.

Sheri Cambareri, a saleswoman in Miller's office at Re/Max Village Properties in Mineola thought up the tour a few weeks ago, over drinks with Re/Max broker Dave Farrell. In a previous job, she organized luxury tours to the pyramids and the Galapagos Islands for members of New York's American Museum of Natural History.

``The extra benefit of those tours was that they brought along an archeologist or an anthropologist,'' Cambareri said. ``We thought we'd bring the mortgage broker, the inspector, the attorney and the contractor.''

The first stop on a recent Saturday was a four-bedroom, 1,400-square-foot Cape Cod on Clinton Road, a busy through-street in Garden City, New York. The asking price was $509,900.00. The buyer who defaulted on the mortgage had paid $600,000, Cambareri said. A nearby home of the same size sold a year ago for $560,000.

`Win-Win Situation'

``This is a win-win situation for everybody,'' said Eric Prusan, a lawyer who spoke on the bus before it started out from Mineola. ``All you got to do is decide if you want to spend the money. We'll help you buy the house.''

At 109 Ellison Avenue in Westbury, the foreclosure tourists inspected a brick-fronted, 1,155 square-foot Cape Cod on a corner lot with an asking price of $374,900. The last owner may have left in a hurry: A green leather sofa was upended in the living room, and a baby stroller moldered in the back yard.

``I'd put in an offer at three-and-a-quarter and see what happens,'' said Farrell as the tourists shone flashlights into the boiler room and crawl spaces. Some of the tourists said they'd be ready to buy the same day.

Built-in Equity

``If the right house comes along, you really don't need 20 days -- at the right price,'' said Brian Cacioppo, a 24-year-old salesman shopping for his first home with Courtnie Harrison, 28. Buying a foreclosed home could give them some cash for improvements, he said.

``With a foreclosure, it's selling for lower than it's worth and the equity is already in the house,'' Cacioppo said.

Even with the needed repairs, the houses were well-priced for Will Brecker, 70, a retired school custodian. ``Where else are you going to find a $600,000 house for 300 or 400?'' he asked. Brecker and his wife Lillian weren't ready to buy yet.

Prices are still high, said Liliana Martinovich, an interior designer who wants to move closer to her son's school in Garden City. She said she'll wait for prices to fall further before buying.

``It seems like it's going to get worse before it gets better with all these Wall Street layoffs,'' said Melissa Cohn, president of Manhattan Mortgages, a mortgage broker active in Long Island. New York City, where financial services are the largest private employer, expects to lose 59,000 jobs by the middle of next year, according to the City's Independent Budget Office.

Farrell said he was looking at a list of 165 homes for a tour the next week. The more foreclosed homes on the market, he said, the lower the prices will go, and the easier it will be to sell them.

``Foreclosed properties have to sell,'' said Farrell. ``Anyone else can take a property off the market. Banks have to sell them, they can't leave them on the market.''

Perhaps, but three weeks after the tour only one of the foreclosure tourists had put in a bid.

To contact the reporter on this story: Peter S. Green in New York at psgreen@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 2, 2008 00:02 EDT