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

Consider with me, if you will, the fundamentals of the Bulk REO business.

Understanding of the foreclosure process is central to understanding Bulk REO investing.

When a home owner begins to miss payments on their mortgage, the lender begins to send late/overdue notices to the home owner. The formal process of foreclosure begins at the lender’s discretion. From that time through public auction is called ‘preforeclosure’.

When a defaulted property is placed up for auction, the foreclosure process is completed. The lender regains ownership of the property if there are no buyers at auction. The lender then categorizes the property as ‘Real Estate Owned’ - or ‘REO’ for short.

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. But more and more, lenders are selling their REO properties for a greatly reduced price. Lenders are willing to do so in exchange for the buyer’s agreement to purchase a ‘package’ of REO’s rather than a single property.

There is huge profit potential in these REO packages for qualified 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 Sal Buscemi of Dandrew Partners, a hedge fund in New York.