Buying Beats Renting as Defaults Cut Prices in Arizona, Texas

The surge in Arizona foreclosures allowed Chris Escobedo, a 31-year-old college counselor with a wife and two children, to buy his first home -- one larger than the house he had been leasing.

“We realized what kind of house we could get for the same amount we were paying in rent,” Escobedo said in an interview. Monthly costs including taxes and insurance for his new home, a foreclosed property near Phoenix, total $1,014 -- just $14 more than the rent on his old place, he said.