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.
That opportunity is called Bulk REO Investing, and the opportunity is huge.
Consider with me, if you will, the fundamentals of the Bulk REO business.
Understanding the notion of Bulk REO’s requires understanding of the foreclosure process.
As a home owner misses a payment or two, the lender sends the predictable barage of threatening letters and warnings. The official foreclosure proceedings begin subsequently, as directed by the lender. The name for this period is ‘preforeclosure’.
Foreclosure is completed when the property is put up for auction. Ownership of the property is returned to the lender if the property is not sold at auction. The designation of ‘REO’ (Real Estate Owned) is then attached to the foreclosed property.
Lenders usually try to unload their REO properties at close to retail price by listing their REO’s with a real estate broker. But as a consequence of the weak economy, lenders are frequently selling their REO properties far below their actual value. 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 Capital Partners, a hedge fund in New York.
