That question was in part motivated by this topic of Phantom inventory that comes up from time to time here. They are not being sold to private parties by the trustees.Even if the phantom inventory was being bought up by “bulk” buyers as REO’s we would see those properties coming from the bulk buyers to the MLS and I don’t see it. We also don’t see anecdotal evidence of bulk buyers putting their would be REO purchases back on the market as rentals.Maybe I am wrong about this? This seems to verify the opinion spoken by a few, that the lenders are holding them much longer than they have to.
As far as cash buying of trustee sale properties goes, I would think bargains are found by that method after all other options are netting the mortgage holder(s)less than some low cash offers would. That will probably be quite some time out. It would be interesting to study how to time it. Doesen’t seem like rocket science.