Over the last 3 years, the total number of foreclosures in Frederick County has been going down.

"It's a much better market to try to buy a house now, than it was before," said Satch Saunders. He built his home in Frederick County in 1996.

"There's not anything that's been foreclosed around me that I know of," he said.

That's a good thing for him and anyone around here.

"An appraisal is going to use anywhere between 3 to 6 comparables, which is homes that are similar to yours," said Cort Maddox, branch manager at Bank of Clarke County. "If one of those foreclosures is in there, let's say it sold for 70 percent on the dollar of the value, then a 200 thousand dollar home would've sold for 140 thousand, therefore it's going to decrease the value."

MRIS reports the RealEstate Business Intelligence data shows an increase in home sales for 10 out of 12 months in Frederick County last year. It also shows a drop in foreclosures. In 2011, more than 300 homes were foreclosed in the area. That's almost 100 less than foreclosed homes in 2012.

"I don't know that we'll ever see the huge speculative building that went on a few years ago where people were paying a fantastic price for personal homes but it is very positive that we are getting responses from the community," said Ellen Murphy, commissioner of revenue for Frederick County.

Satch says if things stay the way they are, he'll be satisfied.

"It'll make me feel like this house is still worth something, that people around here do make their payments, and they're not overpriced," he said.

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