Basics in Bulk REO Investing
With more foreclosures now than ever before, America’s weak real estate market seems to set new dismal records each month. Yet as always, this challenge has given rise to a huge new opportunity for alert real estate investors.
The real estate investing strategy du jour is called ‘Bulk REO Investing‘ and is a real monster.
The basis of the Bulk REO business is foreclosures, so let’s analyze the foreclosure process now.
To understand investing in Bulk REO, you have to understand the foreclosure process.
A home owner who misses one or more mortgage payments is faced with an ever-increasing volume of threatening correspondence from their lender. The formal process of foreclosure begins at the lender’s discretion. Between the formal beginning of the foreclosure process and the public auction is the ‘preforeclosure’ period.
The defaulted property is ultimately auctioned, thus completing the foreclosure process. The lender regains ownership of the property if there are no buyers at auction. This property is then considered to be ‘Real Estate Owned’ by the lender, also known as an ‘REO’ property.
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. However, REO properties are now frequently sold for far less than their ‘book value’. This happens because the buyer of the REO is required to purchase multiple REO’s in a single transaction.
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. There are many sources of funding for these transasactions including: hard money and commercial financing, as well as non conventional sources such as hedge funds and private investors. Additionally, one man is becoming very well known in the field of bulk REO investing, and his name is Salvatore Buscemi of Dandrew Partners, a New-York based hedge fund.
