This is truly the golden age of REO’s in Michigan. Here are couple of things that you need to know about what is NEW in the world of Asset Managers and Real Estate Owned By Banks (REO’s) which are, just in case if you don’t know, are foreclosures in Michigan where the homeowners have left, title has been transferred back to the bank and you can literally take possession next Friday.

Obviously the great things about buying Michigan REO’s have never changed:

- NO back property taxes; the bank pays for them all.
- NO back utility bills; even the water bill is escrowed by the title company. Just get a final water reading and fax them a copy once you have bought the REO and turned the electricity and water back on.
- NO waiting; find one on Friday and if you know where to go and get the money fast (I don’t mean hard money here, that is Sloooooow, 30 days, pain) in Michigan, you can close next Friday and walk out with the keys and a check to fix the house immediately.
- NO drama – you are talking to the pros here, people who move hundreds of houses every year. Nobody is judging you because you are new to the game. They don’t have time to do it.
- NO title issues – banks will not put a REO out there if there were any title issues. When you buy, you get clean title. Which is the way it always should be.

August 2007, I was hanging out with Rodney Townsend, at Ijlal Inner Circle mastermind, very late at night (past midnight) and we both started talking about the changing REO market in Michigan especially in the suburbs.

We compared notes; he told me his recent experiences with some REO’s that he had offers on and bought – the price he found them at; the jaw dropping discounts, and how many suburbs all over tri-county he was seeing the same thing.

I had pretty much the same experience – big discounts given with ease that almost sounded impossible only 18 months ago in Michigan suburbs.

The REO market in Michigan, we both agreed, is turning, in favor of the Michigan real estate investor and would pay a lot of money right now to get into buying REO’s.

I am happy to report that we were both correct in our prediction. August 2007 was good. October 2007 just seems a different world right now.

And if you are in the game right now or may be sitting on the sidelines with not too much time on your hand – pay close attention because, no matter where you live – Detroit, Lansing, Grand Rapids, Roseville, Wyandotte, or Ferndale – there is a REO in your target Michigan city with your name and $50,000 in EQUITY, just waiting for you to wake up and show up there to pick up the keys.

The NEW changes in the world of Michigan REO’s that you MUST be aware of are:

1. The emergence of a new crop of aggressive REO brokers and agents who love working with real estate agents. For some reason most REO brokers over 50 have a distorted and a strange attitude toward real estate investors in Michigan. They get all their business from us but they don’t like dealing with us.

It is arrogance and stupidity, mixed in equal amounts. They think that all Michigan real estate investors are broke; incapable of showing up at a closing with a check or worse they are not serious about buying foreclosures in their Michigan City.

Well thank God that these attitudes from the 1990’s are no longer forced upon us. There are new, young, aggressive REO brokers and agents becoming top flight Stars all over Michigan who want to deal with serious Michigan real estate investors – like my QuickStart grads who know where to get the money and how to close on deals fast – and are happy to find good deals for them.

2. Asset Managers who are getting foreclosures from West and East coast and have NO; repeat NO interest in holding on to foreclosures in Michigan. You might think that Royal Oak is HOT or Grand Blanc is the best city to live in Michigan but outside of Michigan nobody has heard of Grand Blanc or Garden City.

When Asset Managers hear the word “Michigan” they think “Detroit”. Asset Managers never had a soft spot for Michigan and now they really don’t want these foreclosures sitting on their books. You have a solid offer, financing lined up – they will discount. Period! If you can't get discounts than you are probably saying the wrong things to them or worse wording your offers incorrectly.

3. The city of Detroit made me rich when I started out in buying foreclosures and there was a time that you could not find good deals in REO’s unless you played there. But now this is a whole different game – suburban foreclosures all over the tri-county area & in the other metropolitan areas are being discounted heavily.

I remember making an offer on a REO in Sterling Heights three years ago and the REO broker almost had a stroke reading my offer,

“Son, the banks don’t need to discount. This is STERLING HEIGHTS not Detroit.”

Well those days are gone. Gone. Gone. Gone.

4. Working with buying agents – BIG MISTAKE right now. Don’t do it. Enough said.

5. No excuses ("this house needs lots and lots of repairs") needed anymore for getting $50,000 in EQUITY in a suburban foreclosure that requires no repairs besides paint, carpet, and cleanup.

You want to buy one?

They have couple of them in every Michigan City and they keep coming. What makes these discounts effortless is how the offer is structured and what you say to Asset Managers via REO brokers that actually makes it look like that you are doing them a favor buying this foreclosure.

6. Absolutely no need for spending months and thousands of dollars of borrowed money rehabbing the house and dealing with 30 contractors UNLESS you are in love with idea of spending hours at Home Depot and making money is really not your objective in Michigan real estate investing.

If you are doing rehab right now in Michigan – that is a personal choice that you made. Nobody dragged you to Home Depot and forced you to spend $20,000 there. Clean up, paint, carpet, kitchen cabinets, reglaze the tub, toss a new vanity sink – O.K. we are done.

Move on. Do deal number 2.

And THE BIGGEST REASON you need to wake up and learn about finding and buying Michigan REO's is:

December is right around the corner. And by all indications this is going to be the month in 2007 that all records will be broken when it comes to whacking banks on their heads to get big discounts in Michigan. Banks don’t want to close their books with Michigan foreclosures hanging on their heads. They want out and they will discount.

Imagine starting January with keys to 2 REO’s in your back pocket with $110,000 in equity. No repairs needed.

The time to learn how to do it is NOW. The place to go and master it all is QuickStart Bootcamp Version 2.0 which is happing on November 16,17,18 in Troy.

No better place to come and master how to find and buy REO’s in Michigan, no matter where you live, with $50,000 in Equity, with no repairs more than paint carpet & kitchen cabinets needed. And YES! You can do this whole thing without using a $1 of your own money. That is probably the easiest thing to setup. I just got one more source of OPM - $200,000 with no collateral, no security, just sign and drive checkbook.

I only teach 10 students at a time. 6 of them are already gone. This is probably the last QuickStart for 2007. You don’t want to wait and miss out on the BIGGEST buying opportunity of the year happening in December.

It is 3 days, one on one with me, and this time in November, I will let one REO broker, a good friend of mine, come and speak to the students. This guy just came from a nationwide conference of Asset Managers and I guarantee that your ears will burn when you listen to him describe what these guys are thinking about Michigan foreclosures.

I hope that you have the skills and a plan in place to make offers on REO’s in late November and early December in your target Michigan City because if you have been waiting for a perfect time to buy your first Michigan foreclosure – THIS IS THE MONTH.

If you have any questions about QuickStart Bootcamp give Nora a call at 248-561-3535 or email her at customercare@markijlal.com , 4 Seats left and then it is all over for 2007.

Don’t miss out on buying a Michigan foreclosure in December. You will regret it.