Bulk REO Real Estate Investing
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.
The real estate investing strategy du jour is called ‘Bulk REO Investing‘ and is a real monster.
Let’s take a moment to analyze the basics of this incredibly lucrative business.
Understanding the notion of Bulk REO’s requires understanding of 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. The formal process of foreclosure begins at the lender’s discretion. From that time through public auction is called ‘preforeclosure’.
To complete the foreclosure process, the property is auction to the public. 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, 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.
These REO packages represent the potential to acquire huge amounts of equity for savvy real estate investors. One of the best ways to take advantage of Bulk REO Investing opportunities is to partner with a well-regarded source of funding. 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 hedge fund in New York.