Bank-Owned Wholesaling?(REO)

[Morris Lucas]

Have many of you had success wholesaling contracts or flipping houses from banks, via MLS or off the banks website? I have heard the best wholesaling deals come through marketing via repeat mail or internet directly to homeowners, however, I would imagine if you make enough offers(lowball) on reo's you would be able to "create" your own deal to market. Downside i guess would be more earnest money at risk and having to pay realtor fee's to whatever agents the banks use.
If you have used this strategy would you mind sharing your story and what bank you dealt with? pros, cons?
There are a few vacants i came across driving around the last few days that are bank-owned that I would like to investigate.

[George Cox]

At least in my area...it's hard to get an REO for the numbers you need for it to make sense as a wholesale deal. Please know that you can't assign the contract so you will have to buy it and sell it doing a back-to-back using your funds or transactional funding (which comes with an expense). Some banks require a hefty down payment such as 10%. But again, the real challenge for me has been getting the prop for the right number. Once I've factored in the cost of the funding and my assignment fee, there is almost always someone else out there to outbid me. Especially if the property is half decent...