REO is short for Real Estate Owned. This property is that of a home that was initially foreclosed on.  On the foreclosed date that is given by the County Sheriff’s department,  also known as Sheriff’s Sale date, the property is then put up for auction.

During the auction, bidding can start for as low as $100 depending on the state. However, when it is a straight foreclosure, many times the bid has to be near the owed amount. In this case, no one bids on the property and it then goes back to the bank.

Once at the bank, it is now an REO.

Yes, you can go directly to the bank and ask if they have that property and what are they selling it for. However, it is more advised to go to the REO real estate agent.

This is because they have more listings for more than one bank and they also do an appraisal of what the house is worth. If they are really experienced, they will know how much it should be listed for to get a quick sale. Therefore, they will most likely convince the bank to list it at a lower price.

For a list of REO brokers in your area, simply go to REOBroker.com and select your city and state. You can fund the purchase of an REO using your own money, hard money lenders, private investors or even a mortgage lender.