Wealth Building

Bulk REO Investor Profit Strategies – Getting Started

November 21st, 2009

The weakness of the U.S. economy has given rise to the largest epidemic of foreclosures in American history. However, opportunistic real estate investment professionals are turning the recession into great profits with a bit of creativity.

The real estate investing strategy du jour is called ‘Bulk REO Investing‘ and is a real monster.

Foreclosures are at the heart of the Bulk REO business, so let’s consider the foreclosure process.

You can’t understand Bulk REO Investments without understanding the process of foreclosure.

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. ‘Pre foreclosure’ is the name given to the time between implementation of the foreclosure proceedings and the public auction.

Foreclosure is completed when the property is put up for auction. Ownership of the property is returned to the lender if the property is not sold at auction. Such a property is then classified as an ‘REO’ (Real Estate Owned) by the lender.

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’. The trade-off is that the buyer must purchase multiple REO properties in each transaction.

These REO packages represent the potential to acquire huge amounts of equity for savvy 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 Salvatore Bushemi of Dandrew Capital Partners, a hedge fund in New York.