The weakness of the U.S. economy has given rise to the largest epidemic of foreclosures in American history. 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.
The basis of the Bulk REO business is foreclosures, so let’s analyze the foreclosure process now.
Understanding of the foreclosure process is central to understanding Bulk REO investing.
As a home owner misses a payment or two, the lender sends the predictable barage of threatening letters and warnings. The formal process of foreclosure begins at the lender’s discretion. The name for this period is ‘preforeclosure’.
Foreclosure is completed when the property is put up for auction. If there are no buyers for the property at auction, the property is returned to the lender. The property then receives the designation of being an ‘REO’ or the more formal name, ‘Real Estate Owned’.
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’. This happens because the buyer of the REO is required to purchase multiple REO’s in a single transaction.
There is huge profit potential in these REO packages for qualified 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. Additionally, one man is becoming very well known in the field of bulk REO investing, and his name is Salvatore Buscemi of Dandrew Capital Partners, a New-York based hedge fund.