No generation in American history has ever experienced the number of foreclosures and defaulted mortgages as is happening now. 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.

Let’s take a moment to analyze the basics of this incredibly lucrative business.

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 property is put up for auction. If there are no buyers at the foreclosure auction, the lender regains title to the property. Such a property is then classified as an ‘REO’ (Real Estate Owned) by the lender.

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. However, the purchase of a ‘package’ (or group) or REO properties is the trade-off for receiving such great prices.

The recession in the United States has yielded huge profits to real estate investors prepared to take advantage. 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 Sal Buscemi of Dandrew Capital Partners, a hedge fund in New York.