Book Review: REO Boom: How To Manage, List and Cash in On Bank-Owned Properties

Authors: Aram Shah and Tim Shah

Publisher: Ben Bella Books – 428 pages

Book Review by:  Paiso Jamakar

In this large book of over 430 pages (including nearly 20 pages of valuable data-packed appendices) Aram and Tim Shah, known in the real estate business as “the REO brothers” show you how to generate millions of dollars of income by concentrating only on real estate owned (REO) properties now in the possession of banks nationwide.

But banks are in the business of lending money, and do not want to be in the real estate buying and selling business. They want to unload these properties. And the earlier, the better for them. That spells huge money-making and long-term income-producing opportunities for you.

Aram and Tim Shah hold the distinction of being the top two leading REO listing agents in the United States. They have together closed more than 2,000 deals involving REO properties, producing over $5 million annually in gross commission income over the last seven years.

Aram Shah is a consistent million-dollar producer of sales involving bank-owned properties. A member of an elite group – the Council of Real Estate Brokerage Managers (CRB) – he has participated in hundreds of real estate ventures. As a direct REO listing agent, real estate coach and mentor, he has been a mentor to thousands of real estate agents across the United States, showing them how to maximize profits in their REO business.

Tim Shah is also a direct REO listing agent for various banks around the U.S. He has participated in real estate ventures totaling over $50 million. As a seasoned investor and coach, he has also, like his brother Aram, trained thousands of real estate agents in the lucrative REO business, guiding them on how to invest successfully in single family homes, condos, town homes and duplexes.

Among other information, the book states on the cover that it contains a 90-day action plan (in its Appendix) for breaking into the REO business; insider secrets on what asset managers are really looking for; step-by-step guides that walk you through the entire REO process; and tricks for completing a perfect BPO (broker’s price opinion) to guarantee you listings.

Through its dozen chapters spread over four main parts of this book, the authors walk you through what they call the “REO game.” But they are dead serious from the beginning itself, naming Part One “Launching Your REO Business.” That is to say, you must consider the task of investing at least your time, if not your money in REOs a business, not just something to dabble in or experiment with, to try make some money. Surely you believe in the saying: “If we can do it, so can you.”

The authors start the book by giving you a history lesson from the 1980s when the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) established by the US Congress during the savings and loan (S&L) crisis. Remember when banks allowed thousands of people to take on mortgages without qualifying for them?

When the borrowers could not repay those loans, the banks took possession of those homes and other real estate assets. A massive oversupply of properties in the hands of savings and loan associations became front-page news day after day, week after week, month after month, for several years.

So just as there existed in the 1980s the S&L crisis, there exists today the dire situation of a millions of property owners on the brink of foreclosure, as well as already-completed foreclosures in today’s recessionary economy. A few years ago, banks gave loans to anyone who had a pulse.

Those borrowers who got the loans had not been subjected to repayment ability, so they lost their homes to the banks. Many of those banks are still sitting with thousands of such properties, unable to make any money on those “non-performing” loans.

To relieve themselves of their collective pain, the banks have enlisted real estate agents who specialize in selling such properties – the REO listing and sales agents – to help them. This situation has created massive money-making and income-producing opportunities for these real estate specialists, such as for the Shah brothers for example.

To take advantage of these opportunities, read this book. Going back to Part One, the three chapters in it take you, respectively to the inside of the REO game; show you how to “get in” with the asset managers (those who have title or control over the properties); and set up your lean, mean, REO machine by building your “dream team” and taking other further steps.

Part Two, entitled “Managing Your REO ATM” deals with handling the ATM (yes. automatic teller machine, believe it or else) of your REO machine. It shows you how to receive your first “assignment” or opportunity and do all the due diligence work required to turn it into a cash-generating source; conducting your (hopefully) perfect  BPO (broker’s price opinion); and managing repairs and inspections.

Part Three is delightfully entitled “Making REO Cash Withdrawals.” It consists of chapters dealing with mastering listings and marketing; the art of offers; and closings. This part of the book shows you, among other necessities, the twenty-point interior list to prepare the property for viewing in chapter 7; the five biggest rookie offer mistakes in chapter 8; and how to close your first deal, in chapter 9.

Part Four also has an attractive title: “Milking the REO Game.” You read chapters 10, 11 and 12 entitled respectively “Double, Triple, Quadruple Dipping,” “Blueprint to a Million in Twenty-Four Months,” and “Printing Money.” No description of the content of Part Four could be better than giving you the exact names of  its chapters, so that’s exactly what we’ve given to you.

So there you have it. Finally, I would urge you to keep this book after acquiring it and reading it in detail, including the whole Appendix section. This great book contains gems of information on a specific subject – REOs – that is not even within the purview of knowledge and experience of the typical real estate agent.