By Anthony Caciopo

Recently I had the privilege of accompanying BankREOs.com Founder Brian Kuzdas and Chief Operations Officer Dean DeLisle as they delivered an important message about the growth of the company to a group of potential investors in Naperville, Illinois.

BankREOs.com is building on its promise to become the first worldwide delivery service of REOs, or bank-owned, real estate. Currently, banks and consumers have only a patchwork affair of REO servicing companies in the marketplace, which are typically auction companies that market only locally and only occasionally. BankREOs.com changes that by being all-comprehensive, covering REO properties across the United States and marketing those properties to an audience around the world, all the time.

As Mr. Kuzdas and Mr. DeLisle spoke to a rapt  audience about the vision, market forces, systems and technologies involved necessary to explode BankREOs.com into the greater marketplace, all I could think about was the incredible number of foreclosures present in the U.S. today, in the coming years and what that means for the public, the economy and the company.

I had to keep reminding myself “It’s the foreclosures, silly!” Does anyone remember the slight variation of that line, back when Bill Clinton catapulted ahead of President George H. W. Bush to win the election? No, we’re not getting into political opinions or value statements here on this blog, it’s just a quick recollection of an important piece of American history, when the phrase “It’s the economy, stupid!” was at the forefront of a lot of people’s minds as they weighed what was important and who they should vote for to lead the nation.

Yep, it’s all about the foreclosures and their staggering numbers. Consider:

• More than one million homes were repossessed by lenders in 2010, a record, with even more expected for 2011.
• There is at least a three-year supply of foreclosures in the market, and much more in certain markets.
• Fifty-three percent of all homes sold in Nevada are foreclosures. In California, it’s 45 percent and nationally, it’s 28 percent so far in 2011 and rising.
• In 2010, 157 banks failed nationwide (up from 140 in 2009) representing assets of $92.1 billion. The primary reason for failure was toxic mortgages.
• 25 percent of U.S. homeowners are underwater, and an additional 25 percent are nearly underwater.
• Homeowners NOT in foreclosure face depressed prices and difficulty in selling because of all the foreclosures.

BankREOs.com is at the forefront of helping solve the REO crisis for banks, consumers and the market in general.