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Buying an REO Property Owned by Bank of America

To safely and consistently profit from real estate investing, the price paid to acquire a residential or commercial property has to be below its market value. A good number of under-priced residential real estate homes all over the 50 states can be found in the REO listings of Bank of America.

Bank of America is the largest bank in United States. It has diverse operations that span the entire of lending landscape. They have grown even larger, especially in the residential lending market because of its acquisition of Countrywide Mortgage and Merill Lynch during the great recession.

Bank of America has one of the highest numbers of foreclosed properties in the country, thanks to their acquisition of Countrywide. All such foreclosed properties that do not attract any bidding or fail to exceed the reserved price set by the lender are repossessed and become part of Bank of America REO inventory.

REO properties are bank owned homes that are immediately offered for sale. The Bank of America REO listings can be found on their website. The vast majority of these home listings are made up of single-family homes in all types of condition. California, Florida, Nevada, Arizona and New York figure prominently in the REO homes of Bank of America.

Bank of America’s REO inventory is handled either by their internal department or by an external REO asset management company contracted to handle the sale process. Once a property is bought back by the lender after the foreclosure auction, the responsibility for the upkeep and maintenance becomes theirs. They also have to evict the previous occupant, while also bearing the costs related to property taxes.

The longer the REO department takes to sell a property, the steeper the losses.  Due to this situation, many banks that own REO can be considered as “motivated sellers.” This means that they are willing to lower the sales price in order to make a deal happen. Investors mindful of this predicament can negotiate with Bank of America’s REO department to secure a property at a deep discount to its market value.

All the large national banks’ REO departments are overwhelmed with the volume of foreclosures and REO properties to be handled by them. In spite of their best efforts to streamline the REO process, most banks still struggle. A investor may find the process extremely frustrating. Getting in touch with a bank reo asset manager can be difficult. They often  come across as aloof and unresponsive. Diligent understanding of each individual bank’s procedures, while keeping a calm and patient demeanour is necessary to successfully close on a Bank of America REO home.

Banks don’t sell their REO properties directly. They employ the services of real estate agents signed up with them to handle the sales and listings in a particular area. Most of Bank of America’s REO listings in a given area are more or less handled by the same agents. It is best to establish good rapport with such agents to smoothen the process of buying a REO home with less hassles and frustration.