No generation in American history has ever experienced the number of foreclosures and defaulted mortgages as is happening now. However, opportunistic real estate investment professionals are turning the recession into great profits with a bit of creativity.

The new opportunity is known as ‘Bulk REO Investing’ or ‘REO Package Investing’ and it’s a huge opportunity.

Consider with me, if you will, the fundamentals of the Bulk REO business.

To understand investing in Bulk REO, you have to understand the foreclosure process.

Mortgage lenders faced with a non-paying home owner send a large volume of threats, warnings and documentation to the borrower who is late. The lender directs the subsequent timing of the actual foreclosure proceedings. The ‘pre-foreclosure’ time starts with filing of foreclosure paperwork and concludes at public auction.

Foreclosure is completed when the defaulted property is auctioned. If there are no buyers for the property at auction, the property is returned to the lender. The property then receives the designation of being an ‘REO’ or the more formal name, ‘Real Estate Owned’.

Lenders usually try to unload their REO properties at close to retail price by listing their REO’s with a real estate broker. Yet with increasing frequency, REO properties are being sold for pennies or dimes on the dollar. However, the purchase of a ‘package’ (or group) or REO properties is the trade-off for receiving such great prices.

There is huge profit potential in these REO packages for qualified real estate investors. REO packages are easiest to buy and sell with a well regarded source of financing in place. There are many sources of funding for these transasactions including: hard money and commercial financing, as well as non conventional sources such as hedge funds and private investors. Additionally, one man is becoming very well known in the field of bulk REO investing, and his name is Salvatore Bushemi of Dandrew Partners, a New-York based hedge fund.

The term real estate investing likely brings a number of things to mind. You may think of real estate investing as real estate portfolios and real estate retirement plans, or you might focus on short sales, bulk reo investing and virtual real estate investing. You may also consider what roles these things play in your life as a real estate investor in different economies.

There is a great deal to know about real estate investing. The best way to optimize your real estate investing education is to know the basics ahead of time. Whether your target is short sales, bulk reo sales, virtual real estate or improving real estate investor abilities, you need to know some real estate investing basics. Check out these three real estate investing tenets that many experts do not fully know:

1. You will always get a positive yield with real estate investing education. Each real estate deal can represent thousands of dollars in potential wealth. Knowing about getting that wealth is the key in the end to your success. When you know about real estate your odds of success increase with each real estate deal. A small investment in your education can yield big results when you implement your learning.

2. You can succeed in real estate investing in any economy. Many people are under the misconception that success is possible in real estate only when the economy is good. Actually a poor economy is not a bad economy for real estate investors. You will likely find properties that you can buy at deep discounts. Also, you might find deals that simply could not exist in a booming economy. In fact, real estate investing can turn the tide for a poor economy. When the economy is not so good, short sales, bulk reo sales and virtual real estate are great. You can save yourself from financial difficulty along with others by knowing how to do these deals.

3. You do not need a lot of money to be a successful real estate investor. You can make a success of real estate investing no matter how much or little money you have. There are lots of types of deals that you can perform with the money of other people. Private lenders will lend you their money if they think you are a good investment. A good investment will know as much as they can about real estate investing. This will help you show people that you are a good investment if they have the money to help you with real estate investing but they do not know how to use it.

Real estate investing is a great way to create a good amount of wealth. You will be able to create an income no matter what the economy. Using a knowledge base of real estate investing, short sales, bulk reo sales and virtual real estate you will be able to make success for yourself. Knowing some real estate investing basics and applying them will help you succeed as a real estate investor.