The recession in the U.S. economy has resulted in more foreclosures than experienced by any other generation of Americans. Yet well-funded investors in real estate are seizing upon this opening to profit from an profoundly profitable new opportunity.
The new opportunity is known as ‘Bulk REO Investing’ or ‘REO Package Investing’ and it’s a huge opportunity.
Foreclosures are at the heart of the Bulk REO business, so let’s consider the foreclosure process.
Understanding the notion of Bulk REO’s requires understanding of the foreclosure process.
Mortgage lenders faced with a non-paying home owner send a large volume of threats, warnings and documentation to the borrower who is late. The formal process of foreclosure begins at the lender’s discretion. ‘Pre foreclosure’ is the name given to the time between implementation of the foreclosure proceedings and the public auction.
To complete the foreclosure process, the property is auction to the public. Ownership of the property is returned to the lender if the property is not sold at auction. This property is then considered to be ‘Real Estate Owned’ by the lender, also known as an ‘REO’ property.
Lenders have no interest in owning property, and thus usually opt to list their REO properties with a local real estate broker in hopes of a retail sale. However, lenders are increasingly willing to take much less than their REO asset is actually worth. 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. 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 Partners, a hedge fund in New York.