Well, if in fact the loss is not recognized financially, until the house is actually sold by the lender….then that’s probably got a lot to do with the lag in REO’s getting listed. If the lender is facing a possible collapse of their business if all the REO’s were to hit the market too quickly, then it stands to reason that they will try to parse them out over as long a period of time as possible. At least this way they get a shot at surviving sometime into the future. In other words, this is a survival tactic.

And if this is the prime reason for them waiting to list or foreclose, then contacting them directly to buy a house probably wont sway them to sell it to you.