Buyers, why are you driving around wasting your gas & time???
If you are a buyer looking to purchase a Bank Owned Property, REO property, for yourself or as an investor, DO NOT kid yourself these homes are NOT easy to find. If you think you can drive neighborhoods and find these homes it will not happen very often.
The banks decided to give their listings to very few Realtors and these Realtors usually do not put signs on properties. Most of the Realtors who receive these listings from the bank will have 30 to 100+ listings at a time. These Realtor do a poor job letting the public know about these properties. If only the banks knew how poorly these homes were being marketed?
Also Buyers if you are searching on Real Estate Companies and Foreclosure specific web sites for properties, all you are going to find are properties that are the listings of that company only. So again you are limiting the homes available to choose from. Open up your available market of homes and find a good Realtor.
If you as the consumer/investor are interested in a REO property, bank owned property, you need to connect with a good Realtor to insure you are finding every possible property that may fit your needs. Please do not waste your time driving around neighborhoods thinking you are seeing the full market. The market has never been better for the investor/consumer.