Bulk REO Investment Basics

The recession in the U.S. economy has resulted in more foreclosures than experienced by any other generation of Americans. Yet as always, this challenge has given rise to a huge new opportunity for alert real estate investors.

The real estate investing strategy du jour is called ‘Bulk REO Investing‘ and is a real monster.

Consider with me, if you will, the fundamentals of the Bulk REO business.

Understanding of the foreclosure process is central to understanding Bulk REO investing.

Mortgage lenders faced with a non-paying home owner send a large volume of threats, warnings and documentation to the borrower who is late. After a certain period, the lender will then formally begin foreclosure proceedings. From that time through public auction is called ‘preforeclosure’.

The defaulted property is ultimately auctioned, thus completing the foreclosure process. If the property is not purchased at auction, ownership reverts to the original lender. The designation of ‘REO’ (Real Estate Owned) is then attached to the foreclosed property.

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. However, lenders are increasingly willing to take much less than their REO asset is actually worth. The trade-off is that the buyer must purchase multiple REO properties in each transaction.

These REO packages represent the potential to acquire huge amounts of equity for savvy real estate investors. Bulk REO Investors are most successful when they have a well-established source of funding for their REO packages. 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 Partners, a hedge fund in New York.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 5:47 am and is filed under Relocation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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