The weakness of the U.S. economy has given rise to the largest epidemic of foreclosures in American history. But challenge always gives rise to opportunity, and opportunistic real estate investors are rising to the challenge.
‘Bulk REO Investing’ is the name of the new strategy, and it’s captured the attention of many well-heeled investors.
Take a just a minute to consider the basics of this highly profitable business.
Understanding the notion of Bulk REO’s requires understanding of 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. The formal process of foreclosure begins at the lender’s discretion. From that time through public auction is called ‘preforeclosure’.
Foreclosure is completed when the defaulted property is auctioned. The lender regains ownership of the property if there are no buyers 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. However, REO properties are now frequently sold for far less than their ‘book 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.