The weakness of the U.S. economy has given rise to the largest epidemic of foreclosures in American history. But smart real estate investors are turning these ‘lemons’ into ‘lemonade’ in an incredibly profitable new way.
‘Bulk REO Investing’ is the name of the new strategy, and it’s captured the attention of many well-heeled investors.
Let’s take a moment to analyze the basics of this incredibly lucrative business.
You can’t understand Bulk REO Investments without understanding the process of foreclosure.
When a home owner begins to miss payments on their mortgage, the lender begins to send late/overdue notices to the home owner. The official foreclosure proceedings begin subsequently, as directed by the lender. ‘Pre foreclosure’ is the name given to the time between implementation of the foreclosure proceedings and the public auction.
When a defaulted property is placed up for auction, the foreclosure process is completed. 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.
REO properties are usually listed for sale with local real estate agents. 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.
There is huge profit potential in these REO packages for qualified 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 Partners, a hedge fund in New York.