Beginner’s Guide To Bulk REO Investments

The recession in the U.S. economy has resulted in more foreclosures than experienced by any other generation of Americans. But challenge always gives rise to opportunity, and opportunistic real estate investors are rising to the challenge.

This new opportunity – known as ‘Bulk REO Investing’ – is so huge it’s captured attention from wealthy investors and private investment funds alike.

Take a just a minute to consider the basics of this highly profitable business.

To understand investing in Bulk REO, you have to understand 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 official foreclosure proceedings begin subsequently, as directed by the lender. The name for this period is ‘preforeclosure’.

When a defaulted property is placed up for auction, the foreclosure process is completed. If there are no buyers for the property at auction, the property is returned to the lender. Such a property is then classified as an ‘REO’ (Real Estate Owned) by the lender.

Lenders usually try to unload their REO properties at close to retail price by listing their REO’s with a real estate broker. But as a consequence of the weak economy, lenders are frequently selling their REO properties far below their actual value. This happens because the buyer of the REO is required to purchase multiple REO’s in a single transaction.

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