Guide To Bulk REO Investments
The weakness of the U.S. economy has given rise to the largest epidemic of foreclosures in American history. However, opportunistic real estate investment professionals are turning the recession into great profits with a bit of creativity.
The real estate investing strategy du jour is called ‘Bulk REO Investing‘ and is a real monster.
The basis of the Bulk REO business is foreclosures, so let’s analyze the foreclosure process now.
You can’t understand Bulk REO Investments without understanding the process of foreclosure.
A home owner who misses one or more mortgage payments is faced with an ever-increasing volume of threatening correspondence from their lender. The formal process of foreclosure begins at the lender’s discretion. The ‘pre-foreclosure’ time starts with filing of foreclosure paperwork and concludes at public auction.
Foreclosure is completed when the property is put up for auction. If there are no buyers for the property at auction, the property is returned to the lender. Such a property is then classified as an ‘REO’ (Real Estate Owned) by the lender.
Typically, lenders list their REO properties with local real estate agents in hopes of selling the property to a retail buyer who will pay full price. But more and more, lenders are selling their REO properties for a greatly reduced price. However, the purchase of a ‘package’ (or group) or REO properties is the trade-off for receiving such great prices.
These REO packages represent the potential to acquire huge amounts of equity for savvy real estate investors. The most successful Bulk REO Investors will have a well-respected source of funding for their transactions. There are many sources of funding for these transasactions including: hard money and commercial financing, as well as non conventional sources such as hedge funds and private investors. Additionally, one man is becoming very well known in the field of bulk REO investing, and his name is Sal Buscemi of Dandrew Capital Partners, a New-York based hedge fund.
