Rocktex

IndyMac Bancorp: Time to Take REOs Online

Hi! Kale,
Most content of the article are initially written for a professional real estate website. To better understand those professional jargons, you may go to the website or my blog at: activerain.com/blogs/r....

There are basically 3 stages in a foreclosure.
The 1st one is called NOD (Notice of Default) that means something real and serious starts legally.

The 2nd is called NOTS (or NOT in short) that means a date of foreclosure is scheduled legally.

A property in the above two stages are called "pre-foreclosure" property.

The 3rd is a foreclosure sale by itself. There is a foreclosure minimum bid amount for the sale. If nobody wants buy the subject property for that amount, there is no way for you to bargain it down, the property will be struck off and the title to the property is legally transfered to a lender at that instant. Of course, you can make a deal with the lender at the auction site right after the auction is completed. You may get less, but it depends the situation.

Once the foreclosed property belongs to a bank or lender, it is called a "REO" (real estate owned) by the general public. In fact, it is not correct, it shall be called "OREO" (other real estate owned) since some banks DO own some properties for its daily business operation.

Hope I make it clear. In this case, if someone is willing to raise his hand to pay $380K (the minimum bid for foreclosure sale), he will get and own the property, not the lender. The property will not be called a REO.

Since nobody wants to pay that price of $380K, the lender has to take it back as a REO and try to sell it by a more reasonable price. Sometimes, the asking price will be even higher than the minimum bid, after a 2nd junior lien or other liens are wipe out.