In our area, it is cheaper to bulldoze and build something new than to try to bring these homes up to code.

The Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) was a United States Government-owned asset management company charged with liquidating assets (primarily real estate-related assets, including mortgage loans) that had been assets of savings and loan associations (S&Ls) declared insolvent by the Office of Thrift Supervision, as a consequence of the savings and loan crisis of the 1980s.

The broker I talked to said he usually charges about 1% of the property price.

A great article... thanks Dan.It sure does fill in some of the gaps, since the "mainstream media" is telling us NOTHING.I particularly liked these two paragraphs:"What terrifies me … what wakes me in a cold sweat … is that the single most corrupt, inefficient, incompetent and idiotic institution on face of the planet is now trying to “fix†the problem.And that especially frightens me because, the closer I examine the roots of this crisis, the clearer it becomes that it was engineered almost entirely by the very bumbling buffoons who are now charged with ending it: The U.S. government."

Also, homeowners in default vacate their houses for any reason they see fit...mostly because they are done caring about the property...they have to leave anyways, why not move on with their life before they bank evicts them.It is also no concern of the investor why the homeowner chooses to move out.If you can swing it timing wise it is a good deal for several reasons...the house doesn't sit vacant....you have somebody living in it that knows the deal (you disclose to them exactly what is happening and charge them a monthly rent below market value)...they can show the house for you if need be...the utilities get paid...and the investor can make some positive cash flow while negotiating...let's stop pretending this is hurting anybody...and most of all...dont make me think for a second we are concerned about the lender losing money because the investor is profiting....its the homeowner in default on the hook and nobody else.

In the past I assumed that it wasn't worth it to go after a debt after eviction because of the very slim chance I actually collect anything.I had not considered that there would be services that would only charge a % of the recovered amount.

Reason: "PERSON in charge of reviewing ALL OFFERS for the REO had a family emergency".

What you get is a template website that's about as original as what's on the children's menu at McDonald's.Some of these so-called gurus will charge you a couple thousand dollars plus $60-$70/month for hosting.For that you could get a custom-built site that will set you apart from the competition.

I have no problems with that, I suspect it would make things cheaper, but in the event negotiations break down and I simply can't make a deal work at a price I like, I usually let regular retail buyers take them down.

Another interesting perception is that apartment rental prices will drop, because soon many more SFH rentals are going to be on the market, for the same rates that apartments are charging now.