"REO" or Real Estate Owned are homes which have been foreclosed upon and are presently owned by the bank or mortgage company. This is not the same as real estate up for foreclosure auction. 
If you buy a property during a foreclosure sale, you must pay at least the loan balance plus any interest and other fees accumulated during the foreclosure process. You must also be prepared to pay with cash in hand. Finally, you'll get the property totally as is. That could consist of prevailing liens and even current occupants that may require expulsion.
A bank-owned property, on the other hand, is a more tidy and attractive proposition. The REO property was unable to find a buyer during foreclosure auction. Now the lender owns it. The lender will attend to the removal of tax liens, evict occupants if needed and generally arrange for the issuance of a title insurance policy to the buyer at closing.
You should be aware that REOs may be exempt from normal disclosure requirements. For example, in Nevada, it is optional for foreclosures to have a Property Disclosure Statement, a document that usually requires sellers to make known any defects of which they are informed. By hiring Marc Cassens, you can rest assured knowing all parties are fulfilling Oklahoma state disclosure requirements.
Is REO property in Moore a bargain?
It is occasionally thought that any foreclosure must be a steal and a chance for guaranteed profit. This simply isn't true. You have to be prudent about buying a REO if your intent is profit from the sale. While it's true that the bank is typically eager to offload it soon, they are also motivated to minimize any losses.
When considering the value of a foreclosure, you need to look closely at comparable sales in the neighborhood and be sure to take into account the time and cost of any repairs or remodeling needed to prepare the house for resale. The bargains with money making potential exist, and many people do very well flipping foreclosures. But there are also many REOs that are not good buys and may not be money makers.
Prepared to make an offer?
Many banks have a department dedicated to REO that you'll work with when buying REO property from them.
Others turn the property over to an asset preservation company. Either way, they will normally use a listing agent to get their REO properties listed on the local MLS.
Since banks typically sell REO properties "as is", you may want to include an inspection contingency in your offer that gives you time to check for unseen damage and cancel the offer if you find it. Its also important to understand that the bank typically will not make any repairs to comply with your lender's requirements. As with making any offer on real estate, providing documentation proving your ability to pay may make your offer more attractive, such as a pre-approval letter from a lender.
After you've made your offer, you can expect the bank to respond with a counter offer. From there it will be your decision whether to accept their counter, or submit another counter offer. Your transaction could be final in a single day, but that's usually not the case. Since offers and counter offers usually allow a day or more for the other party to respond (and employees at a bank don't work nights or weekends) you could be looking at a week or longer. I am accustomed to these situations and will work to ensure there are no undue delays.
Banks will also have their own documents that they'll require to be part of the sales contract. Terms and conditions listed will supercede those in the local or state contract. Typically their earnest money requirements are higher than average and inspection periods are shorter. In some cases, there is no financing contingency so that if you are unable to secure financing, you would forfeit your earnest money deposit.
