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.
Take a just a minute to consider the basics of this highly profitable business.
Understanding the notion of Bulk REO’s requires understanding of the foreclosure process.
A home owner who misses one or more mortgage payments is faced with an ever-increasing volume of threatening correspondence from their lender. The official foreclosure proceedings begin subsequently, as directed by the lender. The ‘pre-foreclosure’ time starts with filing of foreclosure paperwork and concludes at public auction.
Foreclosure is completed when the defaulted property is auctioned. If there are no buyers for the property at auction, the property is returned to the lender. This property is then considered to be ‘Real Estate Owned’ by the lender, also known as an ‘REO’ property.
Local real estate agents are usually used to resale REO properties at retail price to the general public. However, REO properties are now frequently sold for far less than their ‘book value’. This happens because the buyer of the REO is required to purchase multiple REO’s in a single transaction.
Qualified real estate investors are increasingly finding once-in-a-lifetime opportunities in these REO packages. REO packages are easiest to buy and sell with a well regarded source of financing in place. 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. One excellent source of funding for Bulk REO Investment transactions can be found here: Bulk REO Investment Training.
