Lenders have become so overwhelmed by the foreclosure crisis that they are starting to unload properties in bulk to investor groups at steep discounts.
Investors then flip the properties for a profit without necessarily improving the home.
For example, a unit of Citigroup, the troubled financial giant, sold a foreclosure in Temecula to an Arizona investment firm for $139,000 when comparable homes in the area were selling for $240,000 to $260,000.
The firm listed the home for $249,000, received multiple offers and the property has entered escrow, said Amber Schlieder, the real estate agent who handled the listing.
For the bank, selling in "bulks" can move those properties out of their books quickly.
Anyway, The way banks selling their REOs is not efficient-- they get low bid when they list the properties with realtors.
Now, all those homes will eventrully come to marke at some point. Will they force the price to come down or help stablize the price?
Right now, there are so many agents out there got pissed off when dealing with the banks. All the short sales, bank owns...it's so hard to make a deal happen. I guess in the end, banks might be the only ones who benifit.
