Bulk REO Investing Tips
The recession in the U.S. economy has resulted in more foreclosures than experienced by any other generation of Americans. But challenge always gives rise to opportunity, and opportunistic real estate investors are rising to the challenge.
The new opportunity is known as ‘Bulk REO Investing’ or ‘REO Package Investing’ and it’s a huge opportunity.
Foreclosures are at the heart of the Bulk REO business, so let’s consider the foreclosure process.
To understand investing in Bulk REO, you have to understand the foreclosure process.
As a borrower becomes increasingly behind in his mortgage, the lender regularly calls and writes the borrower with default warnings and threats. Following a period of time determined by the lender, formal foreclosure proceedings begin. ‘Pre foreclosure’ is the name given to the time between implementation of the foreclosure proceedings and the public auction.
Foreclosure is completed when the defaulted property is auctioned. The lender regains ownership of the property if there are no buyers at auction. This property is then considered to be ‘Real Estate Owned’ by the lender, also known as an ‘REO’ property.
Lenders usually try to unload their REO properties at close to retail price by listing their REO’s with a real estate broker. However, lenders are increasingly willing to take much less than their REO asset is actually worth. But the price of receiving such great pricing is the need to purchase multiple REO properties (a ‘package’) rather than individual properties.
The REO investment packages available today have provided a way to profitably capitalize on the U.S. recession. Bulk REO Investors are most successful when they have a well-established source of funding for their REO packages. Some sources of funding for these transactions are: personal funds, hard money lenders, commercial lenders and non-conventional sources such as private investors and hedge funds. Additionally, one man is becoming very well known in the field of bulk REO investing, and his name is Salvatore Buscemi of Dandrew Partners, a New-York based hedge fund.
