The recession in the U.S. economy has resulted in more foreclosures than experienced by any other generation of Americans. Yet as always, this challenge has given rise to a huge new opportunity for alert real estate investors.
The new opportunity is known as 'Bulk REO Investing' or 'REO Package Investing' and it's a huge opportunity.
Let's take a moment to analyze the basics of this incredibly lucrative business.
Understanding of the foreclosure process is central to understanding Bulk REO investing.
When a home owner begins to miss payments on their mortgage, the lender begins to send late/overdue notices to the home owner. Following a period of time determined by the lender, formal foreclosure proceedings begin. 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. The lender then categorizes the property as 'Real Estate Owned' - or 'REO' for short.
REO properties are usually listed for sale with local real estate agents. Yet with increasing frequency, REO properties are being sold for pennies or dimes on the dollar. But the price of receiving such great pricing is the need to purchase multiple REO properties (a 'package') rather than individual properties.
There is huge profit potential in these REO packages for qualified real estate investors. The most successful Bulk REO Investors will have a well-respected source of funding for their transactions. 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.
