Since the full blown onset of the nationwide foreclosure crisis that started in 2006, mortgage defaults and property foreclosures have steadily increased to put downward pressure on most housing prices nationwide. Housing prices are down nearly 28% nationwide since 2006 with some areas such as Nevada, Arizona, California and Florida experiencing declines in the range of 40-50%. Now nearly every community is faced with the reality of homes in their neighborhood being auctioned off or Banks putting housing inventory back on market at dramatically reduced prices affecting the property valuations of the remaining homeowners and potential Sellers. As the number of distressed properties continues to rise the continued "price-depressing" effect on non-distressed properties will continue in the overall market.

REOs (Bank Owned Homes) and Foreclosures now make up 1 out 4 or 25% of the closed sales through the 2nd Quarter of 2010. When short sale transactions are added into the mix, the numbers rise to nearly 33%. 1 out of 3 transactions being completed in today's market environment originate from some sort of distressed transaction. This is a mind boggling statistic.

Based on the current inventory of Foreclosure and REO (Bank Owned) homes available, it may not be until the end of 2013 until the market has sufficiently worked its way through the inventory. That date could be pushed back further based on how the market addresses the nearly 7 million units of potential additions to the market that are in some form of distress.

Where there is distress, there is opportunity. We decided to start this meet-up group to help people understand and prepare for a real estate market that presents one of the greatest opportunities to acquire distressed inventory in our history.

The purpose of this meet up group will be to discuss the following topics:

* Understanding the current real estate market environment
* Identify what market risks will continue to persist in the future
* Learn how large the overall REO (Bank Owned) market is currently and will much it will grow to in the future
* Learn how investing in REO (Bank Owned) properties differs from non-distressed inventory, short sales and foreclosures
* Learn about the current economic forces that have made this an ideal environment for investment
* Learn about what makes the greater Seattle market the area to make investments
* Discuss how to identify and obtain financing to acquire REO properties

You should join this group if you have a passion for investing in real estate and are looking for ways to gain a greater understanding of the challenges we currently face in this market and the opportunity presented by this distress with REO (Bank Owned) properties.

We encourage this forum to be a place for open dialog between members to answer any questions related to real estate and REOs. Future meetups will bring in various qualified speakers regarding property inspections, taxes, insurance, liability protection and property renovations.