"I felt like I was helping the economy by buying a house," said Michael Wharton.

Wharton's new dream home on a Woodbridge golf course was someone else's foreclosure. He says he left Crystal City because the deal here was so good.

"We got it for a third off what it sold for when it was first built in 2005," said Wharton.

Total home sales are up 200 percent in Prince William County (web|news) because many properties, even new homes are under $400,000. In just this Route One development, closings have doubled.

"About five weeks ago, we started seeing more people showing an interest in purchasing at this time," said Courtney Kuykendall sales consultant for Eagle's Pointe.

County officials say this is finally the silver lining. The lifting of the foreclosure storm to hit and stay over Prince William County over the past two years.

"At some point, I expect the price decline to bottom out and start to stabilize. The volume is the first indication of that," said Allen Scarborough of the Prince William County Department of the Treasury.

While the county still has workers like Paula Johnson who checks dozens of foreclosure properties every day. "I just go through and make sure that all of the windows are secured and the doors are locked," she said.

Slowly, the sold signs are showing up, even if it means existing homes have dropped hundreds of thousands in value.

Email To A Friend