How do you make contact with the Bank REO Officer

Question

I know of several foreclosures that did not sell at auction and would like to contact the bank directly. I cannot identify any direct contact information. Is there a master list of banks and contact information anywhere?

Account Closed · Answer

There's no master list. REO departments are hard to track down. They don't deal with the general public. When I call, they have voice mail you leave a message at. I got a return call once back in ‘03 Lol

The other thing to know is that the property may have been foreclosed on by a servicer (trustee) & that the actual loan (property) can be sent back to the original note holder. Banks sell their loans and it gets moved around during the time of it's existence. In time, they will get a BPO and place the property on the MLS. I believe you have to be an “insider” to know the status of an REO until it hits the MLS.

Frank Chin · Answer

I've done foreclosures and bought a few, living in one since 1993 that I got at a foreclosure auction for $208K compared to ARV for $325K back then. I've gone to courthouse step auctions as well as on site auctions where no one showed up. I was the winner bidder at some, then I got a letter later that my bid did not meet the reserve price and rejected.

In the process, I met quite a few people into bank REO auctions, including a discussion with the banker at my winning auction where they processed my information for a mortgage after I won my bid and was approved for a $180K mortgage walking out of the auction. I'm told many banks engaged in this keep quiet about who at the bank is in charge of REO's to prevent corruption, including the banker at the auction approving my mortgage who obviously is involved in his bank's REO auctions.

Back in 1993, there's auctions every week and I worked with a realtor involved in this, working with REO bankers. He mentioned some clients would meet bankers for lunch at a fancy restaurant, the banker would leave his jacket at the back of his chair, walk to the bathroom, his client would slip an envelope with a bribe into the banker's jacket, and the banker would go back and arrange a deal with his colleagues to make the REO deal available. The public auctions I go to, there's an announcement that a certain number of properties would be sold "absolute", in the beginning, the lowest bid wins. Usually, a bank would reject an offer if it is below the mortgage. My home that I got at auction had a $300K mortgage. I got it for $208K, and the banker processing my mortgage said my bid or offer directly to the bank would normally be rejected for this reason. The developer who built the property took out a $300K mortgage and then tried to sell it for $399K right before the market collapse.

Later on, I rented out an apartment in the duplex I now live in, a realtor bought over a client and asked if I was the winning bidder since he was at the auction with a client. He told his client not to bid over $150K as he had another way of doing it. The developer had four duplexes built, all in foreclosure, but mortgages held by different banks. Six months later, I found out the one 2 doors away was sold for $150K, to a flipper, who's putting it on the market for $230K. The flipper sold it near market at $310K months later, and I found out about it one night when the buyer rang my doorbell, said he put an offer in for $310K, and asks does it sound right. Told him the market price was $325K when I last looked, and he got a good deal. He did. Got it in 1993 for $310K and sold it in 2006 for $800k. In the crazy market here, the properties currently run around $1.3m. I still have it, and one of my tenants commented it's great to make a million while you sleep.

To complete the story, my next-door neighbor bought his house directly from the foreclosing bank by calling the bank directly. He got it for $250K and had to pay back taxes, about $15K. I got mine free and clear. So, my neighbor was here since 1992 and he also make a million.