| By :
Frank Patrick
More and More REO Inventory Means More Work for REO Agents At the mid-year point of 2010, it’s clear that earlier predictions were true – REO sales are going to continue to boom as traditional real estate slides into another slump. In June, distressed properties rose to make up 32% of all home sales. In Orlando, a city hit hard by foreclosures, REO sales accounted for almost half of all home sales. Those numbers say it all. Clearly, it’s still an amazing time to for anyone to become an REO agent and learn how to get REO listings. Here are some recent facts that demonstrate REO properties, an already hot commodity, will become more and more plentiful in the weeks to come: • Wells Fargo announced on July 21st that their foreclosed assets in the second quarter of 2010 rose 22% from the first quarter. They currently hold $4.9 billion in REO property. • JPMorgan Chase’s REO assets have nearly tripled year-to-year from the second quarter of 2009 to the second quarter of 2010, with a current value of $1.4 billion. • The Citibank Group has seen an 81% rise in their REO assets year-to-year – and now also holds $1.4 billion of REO property in North America. • Bank of America reports that its foreclosures are up 15% year-to-year. • According to The Warren Group, which tracks foreclosures in Massachusetts, that state will this year break the record for annual number of foreclosures that was set in 2008. “The figures are staggering,” said Timothy Warren, CEO of Warren Group. • Investment firm G8 Capital has announced plans to invest $80 million in REO property. • Mountain Real Estate acquired $110 million of REO homes in the state of Georgia. Two major trends are immediately apparent from the above news items. First of all, REO inventory is going through the roof. Virtually every major financial institution is reporting significant increases in foreclosures and REO holdings. Second of all, buying REO property is increasingly seen as a smart bet. Investment groups are buying in bulk – and individual homeowners, watching another slump in prices for traditional real estate begin to hit the market, see REO homes as a safe bet. No one sees a lot of profit potential in buying conventional property at conventional prices at the moment. The market is still too uncertain and foreclosures are still coming fast and furious. That’s why, for the foreseeable future and beyond, REO homes will continue to be a top choice for all types of investors and homebuyers. That means more and more REO professionals will continue to be in demand to handle these specialized property transactions in the months to come – making training to become an REO agent and learning how to get REO listings an excellent career choice in these days of continued high unemployment.
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