ASREOS.COM: SERVICING THE REO MARKET BOOM
How Foreclosures Have Changed the Housing Market
Let’s state the obvious – the numbers aren’t good. At this moment, home foreclosures in America are up 76% from last year. One in ten homeowners is either delinquent with payments or already in foreclosure. The number of homes projected to face foreclosure in 2008 is at 2.2 million.
That’s meant a huge surge in REO properties (properties owned by the banks and lenders) on the market – and new opportunities for real estate agents specializing in selling foreclosed homes. The lenders often are willing to sell at a large discount to unload the property – and that means buyers are there to take advantage of the situation.
It’s often the only way business gets done in today’s troubled real estate climate. In Stockton, California, an astonishing four out of five sales in recent months have been REO’s.
Even when lenders are trying to stave off foreclosures for homeowners, it isn’t working out. Over half of the homeowners who had their mortgages adjusted to give them some breathing room in the first half of 2008 were already back in default in the second half of the year.
With the record-setting job losses and continuing bad economic news, it’s clear that REO home sales are going to be a significant part of the real estate scenario for some time to come – if not the most lucrative area for agents who know how to work the REO market.
With that in mind, national REO property expert Frank Patrick has formed the American Society of REO Specialists (ASREOS), a national listing of qualified REO vendors available to the banks, lenders, mortgage insurance companies and asset management companies desperately in need of brokers and agents to sell their REO properties. The ASREOS website at ASREOS.com will also feature contractors who specialize in preparing foreclosed homes for market.
Qualified REO Agents and Contractors, as part of their membership in ASREOS, will have access to Patrick’s national network for over 130 REO Sellers and over 30 National Property Preservation Master Contractors, all currently overwhelmed with the number of foreclosure homes that need to be fixed up and sold. They will also be able to participate in a monthly Q&A with Patrick and listen to an uploaded interview with another top national REO broker, where the latest REO strategies will be revealed and explained.
Patrick, who decided to specialize in the REO niche when he became a real estate agent in 2000, coaches agents on the ins and outs of the REO marketplace through his REO Renegades coaching program – and his expertise is in great demand because of the changing marketplace.
“REO listings have their own unique challenges,” says Patrick. “If you know how to handle those challenges, you can make a lot of money very fast, even in this economy. I was lucky – I decided to specialize in REO’s back when the housing market was still headed upwards with no end in sight. Now, when other agents still handling conventional property sales are having trouble closing deals, I’m doing better than ever – and so can the REO Vendors who join ASREOS.com.”
In a time when business as usual has hit a big roadblock, dealing in REO listings is definitely a place where big profits can be realized – if you understand how REO’s work and how to take maximum advantage of this dominant real estate trend. ASREOS.com is the place for an REO vendor to be to make that happen.
