The Basics Of Bulk REO Investing

bobbyjones| November 28, 2009 | No Comments

The recession in the U.S. economy has resulted in more foreclosures than experienced by any other generation of Americans. But smart real estate investors are turning these ‘lemons’ into ‘lemonade’ in an incredibly profitable new way.

That opportunity is called Bulk REO Investing, and the opportunity is huge.

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

Understanding of the foreclosure process is central to understanding Bulk REO investing.

As a borrower becomes increasingly behind in his mortgage, the lender regularly calls and writes the borrower with default warnings and threats. The lender directs the subsequent timing of the actual foreclosure proceedings. The name for this period is ‘preforeclosure’.

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. Such a property is then classified as an ‘REO’ (Real Estate Owned) by the lender.

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. But as a consequence of the weak economy, lenders are frequently selling their REO properties far below their actual value. But the price of receiving such great pricing is the need to purchase multiple REO properties (a ‘package’) rather than individual properties.

Qualified real estate investors are increasingly finding once-in-a-lifetime opportunities in these REO packages. 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 Bushemi of Dandrew Partners, a New-York based hedge fund.

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