How to
Find the Hottest REO Listings in Your Areas
By Joel Marks
Since the economic downturn, the lure of REO Properties have resonated
with both home buyers and investors alike and many buyers are starting to
seek out REO Listings to make their legwork a little easier. Incredibly,
depending on your locality, you can find Bank Owned Properties at fifty to
eighty percent below FMV Fair Market Value. They key is to get in while
the getting is G-R-E-A-T! Never before have banks and lenders been more
willing to cut such incredible deals with properties they have foreclosed
on than now!
What is a REO Property? It is a property in which a bank or lender has
taken legal possession of through the foreclosure process. When a home
goes into foreclosure and no one picks it up at the auction, the ownership
transfers from the homeowner to lender and the property is then classified
as a Bank REO Property.
Typically at the point, the bank may have to evict the homeowner and do
some repairs to bring the home up to move in condition. If there are any
other liens on the property such as a 2nd mortgage or tax liens, the
lender will negotiate to have those removed. Once all of the above issues
have been cleared up, the bank will put the property up for sale and it
will join the other available REO listings.
Here's my caveat; not all bank owned properties are great deals!
Sometimes the banks miscalculate the numbers or otherwise fail to take
into consideration variables that will negatively impact what the market
is willing to pay. Make sure that you have a streamline system for
detecting and filtering out those bank owned properties that are
unprofitable for you.
It is important to note that banks start entering into a danger zone
with the FDIC when their balance sheets show they are not meeting the debt
to asset ratios established by the FDIC. This is beneficial news to you
because banks are really in a position that they MUST negotiate. The times
are gone when they could sit on bank owned properties until the right
offer came along. Having shared that, let's take a look at the best
sources to find REO listings.
Believe it or not, Craigslist, the free online advertiser, is a great
place to find REO listings galore! You will find all kinds of deals on
Craigslist because its free to advertise. Just click on the "real estate
for sale" section and in the "search for:" box at the top of the page,
type "REO" and click on the search button.
You will be pleasantly surprised at the number of deals you'll find. To
a lesser degree, you can also try other online advertising websites such
as Backpage.com, Kijiji.com and any other local advertisers you may be
aware of.
The old-fashion newspapers (remember the paper routes?) are still a
good source of REO listings because some banks haven't yet caught up with
the twentieth century method of advertising. You can usually find deals in
the Sunday edition. In addition, your local newspapers and local real
estate websites will also carry an abundance of REO listings.
Realtors can be a source, but be weary in dealing with realtors (and I
have may realtor friends who know my position) unless they have
demonstrated they will push and succeed at getting you phenomenal deals.
Most realtors who deal in bank owned properties are pressing to sell the
property at the highest possible price because they get paid by commission
and the higher the sell the property for the more money they make. There
are agents who are the exception, but they are far and few in between.
Another excellent place to grab up REO listings is from one of the
various foreclosure services that offer these lists for a monthly
subscription. The quality of the information will vary from service to
service so the best way to determine who has what you're looking for is to
sign up for the trial period and make your decision based on your
findings.
REO Properties have quietly become the gem of smart home buyers and
savvy real estate investors. To learn the strategies to grab the sweet
deals, click on:
Bank Owned REO.
If you need to grab quick information on Short Sales, Foreclosures, REO
Properties, or if you need to learn how to quickly buy or sell property,
go to: REO Properties.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joel_Marks
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