How To Get Started With Bulk REO Investments

September 7th, 2009 |

No generation in American history has ever experienced the number of foreclosures and defaulted mortgages as is happening now. But smart real estate investors are turning these ‘lemons’ into ‘lemonade’ in an incredibly profitable new way.

The real estate investing strategy du jour is called ‘Bulk REO Investing‘ and is a real monster.

Consider with me, if you will, the fundamentals of the Bulk REO business.

You can’t understand Bulk REO Investments without understanding the process of foreclosure.

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. The ‘pre-foreclosure’ time starts with filing of foreclosure paperwork and concludes at public auction.

Foreclosure is completed when the defaulted property is auctioned. If the property is not purchased at auction, ownership reverts to the original lender. This property is then considered to be ‘Real Estate Owned’ by the lender, also known as an ‘REO’ property.

REO properties are usually listed for sale with local real estate agents. However, REO properties are now frequently sold for far less than their ‘book value’. 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 Salvatore Buscemi of Dandrew Partners, a hedge fund in New York.