About 250 Washington-area houses will hit the auction block in October as the nation’s largest real estate auction firm that deals with foreclosures makes its first D.C. stop in five years.

Dallas-based Hudson and Marshall will hold auctions Oct. 6 at the Hilton Crystal City and Oct. 7 at the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner, selling foreclosed properties mainly in Northern Virginia.

The properties — ranging in value from $30,000 to more than $600,000 — are available for online auction now on the company’s Web site.

“It’s not unusual at these auctions to see houses selling at 20 percent below what the house was listed at on the regular market,” company spokeswoman Crystal Wright said. “But people should understand too that nobody is giving property away.”

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Buyers set the price through the auction process, but the sellers — banks that have repurchased homes from owners who have defaulted on their mortgages — reserve the right to renege on a deal if the winning bid does not meet an undisclosed reserve price.

Lenders accept about 90 percent of winning bids, Wright said.

“Generally, 50 to 60 percent of Hudson and Marshall’s buyers are seasoned investors,” Wright said. “But we’re seeing a growth in regular buyers looking to take advantage of the real estate market.”

Prospective buyers may view most of the homes at open houses scheduled for next weekend and in some cases even arrange individual home inspections. The properties, however, will be sold as-is.

“You do have an opportunity for a bargain,” said Jill Landsman, spokeswoman for the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors. “But you have to recognize that the previous owner of the property was a delinquent owner, so there is a problematic background there.”

Many of the properties listed entered foreclosure last year during the early stages of the subprime mortgage meltdown, but lenders often try to sell the homes through real estate agents for about a year before handing them off to auction firms.

Though Hudson and Marshall’s return to the region reflects the spike in D.C.-area foreclosure filings over the past year, recent statistics show that metro D.C. has the second-lowest foreclosure rate among the nation’s 15 largest metropolitan areas.

tluntz@dcexaminer.com