With more foreclosures now than ever before, America’s weak real estate market seems to set new dismal records each month. 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.
The basis of the Bulk REO business is foreclosures, so let’s analyze the foreclosure process now.
To understand Bulk REO investing is to understand the foreclosure process.
As a home owner misses a payment or two, the lender sends the predictable barage of threatening letters and warnings. The formal process of foreclosure begins at the lender’s discretion. Between the formal beginning of the foreclosure process and the public auction is the ‘preforeclosure’ period.
The defaulted property is ultimately auctioned, thus completing the foreclosure process. The lender regains ownership of the property if there are no buyers at auction. The lender then categorizes the property as ‘Real Estate Owned’ – or ‘REO’ for short.
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. 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. 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 Sal Buscemi of Dandrew Capital Partners, a hedge fund in New York.
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