Bulk REO Investing 101
With more foreclosures now than ever before, America’s weak real estate market seems to set new dismal records each month. Yet well-funded investors in real estate are seizing upon this opening to profit from an profoundly profitable new opportunity.
This new opportunity – known as ‘Bulk REO Investing’ – is so huge it’s captured attention from wealthy investors and private investment funds alike.
Consider with me, if you will, the fundamentals of the Bulk REO business.
To understand Bulk REO investing is to understand 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. After a certain period, the lender will then formally begin foreclosure proceedings. From that time through public auction is called ‘preforeclosure’.
The defaulted property is ultimately auctioned, thus completing the foreclosure process. If there are no buyers at the foreclosure auction, the lender regains title to the property. This property is then considered to be ‘Real Estate Owned’ by the lender, also known as an ‘REO’ property.
Lenders usually try to unload their REO properties at close to retail price by listing their REO’s with a real estate broker. However, REO properties are now frequently sold for far less than their ‘book value’. Lenders are willing to do so in exchange for the buyer’s agreement to purchase a ‘package’ of REO’s rather than a single property.
These REO packages represent the potential to acquire huge amounts of equity for savvy real estate investors. REO packages are easiest to buy and sell with a well regarded source of financing in place. 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. One excellent source of funding for Bulk REO Investment transactions can be found here: Bulk REO Investment Training.