The weakness of the U.S. economy has given rise to the largest epidemic of foreclosures in American history. But challenge always gives rise to opportunity, and opportunistic real estate investors are rising to the challenge.

That opportunity is called Bulk REO Investing, and the opportunity is huge.

Take a just a minute to consider the basics of this highly profitable business.

Understanding the notion of Bulk REO’s requires understanding of the foreclosure process.

When a home owner begins to miss payments on their mortgage, the lender begins to send late/overdue notices to the home owner. Following a period of time determined by the lender, formal foreclosure proceedings begin. ‘Pre foreclosure’ is the name given to the time between implementation of the foreclosure proceedings and the public auction.

To complete the foreclosure process, the property is auction to the public. If there are no buyers at the foreclosure auction, the lender regains title to the property. This property is then considered to be ‘Real Estate Owned’ by the lender, also known as an ‘REO’ property.

Typically, lenders list their REO properties with local real estate agents in hopes of selling the property to a retail buyer who will pay full price. However, lenders are increasingly willing to take much less than their REO asset is actually worth. The trade-off is that the buyer must purchase multiple REO properties in each transaction.

The REO investment packages available today have provided a way to profitably capitalize on the U.S. recession. 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 Bushemi of Dandrew Partners, a New-York based hedge fund.