The recession in the U.S. economy has resulted in more foreclosures than experienced by any other generation of Americans. However, opportunistic real estate investment professionals are turning the recession into great profits with a bit of creativity.
That opportunity is called Bulk REO Investing, and the opportunity is huge.
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.
As a borrower becomes increasingly behind in his mortgage, the lender regularly calls and writes the borrower with default warnings and threats. The lender directs the subsequent timing of the actual foreclosure proceedings. The name for this period is ‘preforeclosure’.
Foreclosure is completed when the defaulted property is auctioned. If there are no buyers at the foreclosure auction, the lender regains title to the property. The lender then categorizes the property as ‘Real Estate Owned’ - or ‘REO’ for short.
Typically, lenders list their REO properties with local real estate agents in hopes of selling the property to a retail buyer who will pay full price. However, lenders are increasingly willing to take much less than their REO asset is actually worth. 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. 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 Sal Bushemi of Dandrew Capital Partners, a New-York based hedge fund.