REO stands for "Real Estate Owned" - you may have known that before...
After a lender or bank takes a property back through foreclosure it enters their REO department. Once the bank has secured the property, evicted the tenant or previous owner and taken actual possession, they will proceed to listing the property with an agent on the MLS.
Tell-tale signs (or words) of REO listings are phrases in the description such as "bank owned", "corporate owned", "lender owned", but also "sold as-is", "no warranties" or "buyer to verify all information".
Once the property shows up on the MLS anyone can make an offer on it. You can submit your offer through your own agent or directly through the listing agent. While REO listings are sometimes priced slightly lower than other similar listings, it can be hard to make this a great deal.
The key is persistence! You'll have to make several "low-ball" offers until one sticks. It helps to get a low offer accepted if you are a cash buyer and can show proof of funds.
Many investors and rehabbers are buying properties from wholesalers. The wholesalers negotiate the deal and make it available to their investor/rehab buyers.
It's a great idea to get on a wholesaler's distribution list so you can get great deals that are "pre-negotiated" delivered to your e-mail inbox. This eliminates negotiation and a lot of paperwork on offers that won't get accepted. All you need to do is do your due diligence quickly and grab the deal (or better yet the other way round...)
Copyright © 2007 http://www.myreiblogger.com/. This article may be freely reprinted and distributed so long as the Author's Bio and Resource Information with all links is included.
Thomas Bartke has been an active wholesale real estate investor for over 6 years. Sign up for his Nationwide wholesale distribution list at http://cawholesaledeals.com - You'll even get a free report just for signing up and great deals with tons of equity on a weekly basis!
Source: www.ezinearticles.com
