Bank-Owned Properties, Foreclosures and the Opportunity in Today's Real Estate Market.
🏠 FORECLOSURES & BANK-OWNED PROPERTIES BOOT CAMP
My Foreclosures & Bank-Owned Properties Boot Camp takes place:
📅 Friday, September 25 through Sunday, September 27 📍 Deerfield Beach, Florida
🔥 Only a few seats remain for September 25–27. We are almost sold out.
👇Register and grab your seat before we are sold out:
www.BankOwnedPropertiesBootCamp.com
📞 (561) 948-2127 to Book Your Ticket Now
When I first started my real estate training company back in October of 2008, we were in the middle of the Financial Crisis.
At the time, I was teaching people how to buy REOs directly from banks and how to wholesale and flip those properties. We were heavily focused on short sales, foreclosures, pre-foreclosures and bank-owned properties.
I even wrote a book called Wholesaling Bank Owned Properties, which outlined the concept of wholesaling and flipping bank owned properties, foreclosures and short sales.
That environment during the prior financial crisis in the years 2008 and 2009 played a major role in how my real estate education company got started.
And I believe understanding bank-owned properties, foreclosures and distressed real estate is becoming increasingly important again.
I watch the MLS every day.
I study inventory and pricing.
I'm seeing more short sales.
I'm seeing more foreclosures and pre-foreclosures when I download my lists.
And I'm seeing more people experiencing economic pressure. I see this everywhere. Restaurants are closing down, businesses are closing down.
That is why I believe investors need to understand how to invest in a down market like the one we are in right now - and the way to do that is by focusing on bank owned properties, foreclosures, pre-foreclosures and short sales.
I Have Seen This Movie Before 🎥
During the previous housing downturn, there were homes in Port St. Lucie that had previously been worth approximately $225,000 that were listed as bank owned properties on the MLS for $50,000. Yes - listed at 25% of their prior value just two years earlier.
I purchased nine houses in one month in May 2009 for approximately $35,000 to $37,000 per house.
Today, those houses are worth approximately $350,000.
What was interesting back then was that when those houses had previously been selling for over $200,000, there was a frenzy, people were buying them like crazy. Everyone thought that real estate was the best investment ever.
I had a friend who was an architect at a company making over $250,000 a year who wanted to quit his profession to focus on buying and flipping houses. That was the peak. That is when everyone bought. Right at the top of the market when prices were highest.
More recently we had a top in July of 2022. And just like last time, this was the most houses ever purchased (right at the top) which is proof positive that history is repeating itself and why I believe we are headed down.
In the financial crisis of 2008, when banks were giving houses away at 25% of their prior value, when they were available for $40,000 or $50,000, people were afraid to buy. Why is that?
That's human psychology. There have been many books written on this subject.
People are often eager to buy when prices are rising because they think they will keep rising. And people are afraid to buy when prices are falling because they think they will continue falling.
Ask yourself this question. Which of these two markets are we in right now? The rising prices market or the falling prices market?
Because understanding this is how opportunities for you as an investor can be created.
I've been investing in real estate for more than two decades. I've personally purchased and flipped over 1,500 single-family home deals, and collectively my students and I have been involved in thousands more.
I teach what I actually do. I teach you exactly the way that I do.
The Real Estate Investing Rubik's Cube
At my real estate training events, I keep two things on my table at the front of the room. You can see these in many photos from my events. What are they?
A stack of cash and a Rubik's Cube.
The cash represents understanding money, financing, private lenders and what I call the "velocity of money".
The Rubik's Cube represents everything else—all of the different pieces you need to understand in order to put the concept of investing in distressed real estate together. There are 54 squares on a Rubik's cube. It's a puzzle and you have to put it together. Buying real estate at 50 cents on the dollar is no different.
For a new investor, one of the hardest parts is simply not knowing what you are looking for. You operate with vague terms like "I am looking for a house to flip", or "let me know if you see any good deals". This is newbie talk.
New students may say:
"Lex, I want to buy a bank-owned property."
My first question is:
Where?
What neighborhood?
What ZIP code?
What price range?
What kind of property?
Are you buying rentals?
Are you fixing and flipping?
Are you looking for an Airbnb?
Suddenly, something that sounded simple has a lot more components.
You need to understand things like:
Your target market Comparable sales After Repair Value (ARV) Repair estimates Maximum Offer Price Financing and private lenders Foreclosures and pre-foreclosures Short sales listed on the MLS Bank-owned homes Online auction sites Exit strategies (renting or selling)
Each one is another piece of the Rubik's Cube.
A Rubik's Cube has 54 pieces. The list above contains only 11. But if you dig deeper, you will see that each one has many layers to it.
For example, the first one—your target market—is directly related to your goal and your vision.
If your goal is to own 10 free-and-clear Section 8 rentals, then what you are looking for is completely different from another investor whose goal is to fix and flip houses or buy Airbnbs. You are looking in different target markets for different types of houses.
So, you first have to clearly identify and establish your goal, and that goal is related to your vision.
Once you have established that—which is often the hardest part—you have to drill down deeper and learn your target market. That means understanding ZIP codes and their boundaries, subdivisions, and the different neighborhoods within your target market.
These are all pieces of the puzzle. Just like a Rubik's Cube, they have to come together. You have to solve the puzzle.
Then you need to understand pricing.
What are investors paying to buy houses in this neighborhood? How much are they spending to fix them up? What are they selling them for? Who are these investors? What price per square foot are they paying? Who are the private lenders funding their purchases? Which crews are they using to fix up their properties? What are they selling those properties for? What is the dollar value, and how much is that per square foot?
In other words, you need to dig deeper and understand these things for all the pieces of the puzzle to work together. In my training I call this concept "drilling down".
Once you understand how those pieces all fit together, real estate investing and buying a house for 50 cents on the dollar starts to make a lot more sense.
And that all circles back to foreclosures and bank owned properties. You need to understand how the foreclosure process works, and how a pre-foreclosure turns into a foreclosure which turns into a foreclosure auction and ultimately a bank owned property.
This is how the pieces of the puzzle fit together.
Understanding the Foreclosure Process
If you want to invest in distressed real estate, if you want to buy houses for 50 cents on the dollar, you also need to understand how a property actually becomes bank-owned. There is a process that is made up of four stages.
There are four primary stages to foreclosure:
1. Pre-Foreclosure
The homeowner begins missing mortgage payments. They are anywhere from 30 days late to 120 days late.
This can create an opportunity for an investor to contact the homeowner and potentially purchase the property before the foreclosure progresses further.
2. Foreclosure
Once the foreclosure process begins, the homeowner may attempt to work with the lender, pursue a loan modification, work with a foreclosure attorney or sell the property before the foreclosure is completed.
In Florida, which is a judicial foreclosure state, the legal process where the bank sues the owner is called a Lis Pendens. Lis Pendens is latin for " lawsuit pending," which serves as an official public notice filed in county records. This clouds the title to the property prohibiting the owner from selling the property.
3. Foreclosure Auction
If the foreclosure isn't resolved, the property can eventually reach the foreclosure auction where the property is sold off at auction to the highest bidder.
Today, much of that process is online.
Investors need to understand title searches, liens and the risks associated with purchasing at the auction because you may buy a property that has liens attached to the property. This is why I do NOT recommend my students to buy properties at the foreclosure auction. Rather wait until the property goes back to the bank and is an REO.
4. REO — Real Estate Owned By the Bank
If an investor does not purchase the property at the foreclosure auction, the lender can end up taking the property back.
It then becomes an REO, which stands for Real Estate Owned.
In other words, it becomes a bank-owned property.
And that's where things become especially interesting for investors like you.
Why Banks Want to Sell REOs
Banks are not in the business of owning houses.
They aren't landlords.
They aren't fix-and-flip investors.
They're in the business of lending money.
Once they take a property back, they generally want to sell it as soon as possible.
The property may be listed on the MLS or placed on an online auction platform.
Some bank-owned properties appear on websites like Hubzu and Auction.com
But investors need to understand that the opening bid isn't necessarily the price the bank will accept. They have a reserve price (just like Ebay).
A house might show an opening bid of $45,000.
That doesn't necessarily mean you're buying it for $45,000.
The bank could have a reserve price of $119,000.
That is why you need to understand the process.
You need to know the After Repair Value (ARV) or what you could sell the house for after you have fixed it up.
You need to understand repairs and how much it would cost to repair the house. This means understanding both material costs and labor costs.
You need to know your Maximum Offer Price. The most you are willing to pay.
And you need to understand how the particular auction platform works.
Again, it all comes back to putting the pieces of the Rubik's Cube together.
Find People Who Have to Sell (not who want to sell)
Whether your goal is to wholesale properties, fix and flip them, keep them as rentals or turn them into Airbnbs, you first need to find the deal.
One of the most important lessons my mentor taught me was:
Buy from people who have to sell, not people who want to sell.
There is a huge difference.
A motivated seller may be in foreclosure.
They may have lost their job.
They may be overwhelmed with credit card debt or medical bills.
There may have been a death, disability, divorce, fire, flood or hurricane.
The important distinction is that they're dealing with a situation that creates a genuine need to sell. They are facing financial difficulty. They are what we call "motivated sellers". They have to sell.
Those are the situations real estate investors need to learn how to identify.
Learn How to Buy Bank-Owned Properties in Deerfield Beach Florida
This is exactly what I will be teaching at my upcoming Foreclosures & Bank-Owned Properties Boot Camp.
📅 Friday, September 25 through Sunday, September 27 📍 Deerfield Beach, Florida
🔥 Only a few seats remain for September 25–27. We are almost sold out.
👇Register and grab your seat before we are sold out:
www.BankOwnedPropertiesBootCamp.com
📞 (561) 948-2127
At the Boot Camp, I'll be teaching how the foreclosure and REO process works, including how to find and analyze:
Bank-owned properties HUD homes Fannie Mae properties Freddie Mac properties Short sales listed on the MLS Foreclosures and Pre-foreclosures How To Bid on Online auction sites
I'll also show you how I analyze these properties, estimate their value, calculate offers and how to submit offers to the bank that will get accepted.
For investors who want to experience my training before committing to my complete $7,500 Real Estate Training Program, I make a very limited number of $997 Preview Tickets available before each Boot Camp.
We typically limit these to just three Preview Tickets per Boot Camp.
Your $997 Preview Ticket allows you AND your spouse, significant other, or business partner to attend the entire three-day Bank-Owned Properties Boot Camp with me.
That means you will spend Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in the room with me as I personally teach you the strategies, systems, and techniques we use for finding and buying foreclosures, short sales, and bank-owned properties.
Instead of committing $7,500 to the complete training program upfront, you can attend this entire three-day Boot Camp for just $997—and bring someone with you at no additional charge.
Think of it as a three-day preview of my complete real estate training program. While you learn about buying and bidding on pre-foreclosures, foreclosures, short sales and bank owned properties.
You get to experience the training, meet me and my team, see exactly how I teach, ask questions, and decide for yourself whether my complete training program is the right fit for you. I may even offer you a deal on the price of my entire training program at the boot camp!
I only teach at eight Boot Camps per year, and only a few Preview Tickets are made available for each boot camp.
So if you have been thinking about learning how to invest in real estate, but you are not ready to commit to the complete $7,500 real estate program, this is a rare opportunity to experience the training firsthand for just $997.
There are only a few seats left for this boot camp and we are almost at capacity. Most of the tickets for the event are already accounted for by my coaching students that are in my training program.
Real estate markets change.
Opportunities change.
But the principles remain the same:
Learn how to identify motivated sellers.
Find people who have to sell.
Understand what the property is really worth.
Know your numbers and how much to offer.
Have the private lenders available when the right deal appears.
That is how you put the pieces of the real estate investing Rubik's Cube together.
There are going to be many opportunities to make millions of dollars.
We are actively buying now.
Right now we are buying houses at 50 cents on the dollar or less!
I made millions of dollars during the last foreclosure crisis, and so did many of my students. We will make millions of dollars in this next financial crisis too. It is happening NOW.
If you want to learn how to buy Bank-Owned Properties, Foreclosures and Short Sales, come spend three days with me and learn how the process works.
🏠 FORECLOSURES & BANK-OWNED PROPERTIES BOOT CAMP
My Foreclosures & Bank-Owned Properties Boot Camp takes place:
📅 Friday, September 25 through Sunday, September 27 📍 Deerfield Beach, Florida
🔥 Only a few seats remain for September 25–27. We are almost sold out.
👇Register and grab your seat before we are sold out:
www.BankOwnedPropertiesBootCamp.com
📞 (561) 948-2127