REO Disposition Planner
Secure, value and sell a property you took back — on net recovery, not guesswork
Install it in one line — paste a single command into Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor and it writes the skill into your project.
Free, and about thirty seconds: a work email and a six-digit code.
Downloading shares your name, firm, role, and email with The Helvetica Group. That introduction is what keeps every skill here free.
What this skill does
Plans what happens after you take a property back through foreclosure or a deed in lieu. Lists what to do on day one to secure and insure it, reconciles the valuations, works out whether repairs pay for themselves, compares listing, auction and bulk sale on what you actually net, and puts dates on the whole plan.
What it does
- Builds a day-one checklist — insurance, security, utilities, occupants, taxes, code issues, open permits — with an owner and date for each
- Reconciles broker opinions and appraisals into as-is, as-repaired and quick-sale values
- Runs the repair-versus-as-is math, including the extra months of carrying costs repairs add
- Compares retail listing, sale to investors, auction and bulk sale on net proceeds and time
- Lays out a timeline with the critical path and the decisions you need to make
When to use it
- A foreclosure sale or deed in lieu has just recorded
- An REO has been sitting and you need to decide what to do
- You are deciding whether to fix a property up or sell it as it is
- Winding down a fund or selling several properties at once
What to have ready
- How and when you acquired the property, and the title status
- Your loan balance or book value at acquisition
- Valuations — broker opinions or an appraisal — and a condition report
- Monthly carrying costs and any repair bids
How to use it
- Download it with the button above. You'll sign in with a work email — that's how the creator knows who is using their skill.
- Copy the install prompt from the "Run it in Claude" box, and paste it into Claude along with the file. Claude installs the skill, fills in your firm's details where the file has
[BRACKETED]placeholders, and runs a quick test with you. - Then just ask in plain English. Claude picks the skill up on its own when a request matches it. Anything it still needs, it asks you for — it won't invent a number.
"We took back [PROPERTY ADDRESS] by trustee's deed on [DATE]. Here are two broker opinions and the inspection notes — should we repair or sell as-is, and how?"
What you get back
A disposition plan: day-one checklist, reconciled values, the repair decision, a channel comparison with net recovery, a recommended plan with pricing triggers, and a timeline.
Good to know
- Output quality tracks input quality. A missing figure is flagged as missing — it is never estimated to fill a gap.
- Every draft is a starting point for your own review, not a finished decision.
- Runs anywhere Claude does: the Claude app, Claude Desktop, or Claude Code.
- Occupants are handled only through your attorney's legal process, and tax and accounting questions are flagged for your CPA. Every discount and cost default is labelled for you to replace with local evidence.
Legal disclaimer
This skill drafts; it does not decide. Its output is not legal, tax, accounting, appraisal, or investment advice, and using it creates no attorney-client, fiduciary, or advisory relationship. Nothing it produces is a commitment to lend or an offer to sell a security. Verify every number, date, citation, and conclusion against the source documents, and have a qualified professional licensed in the relevant jurisdiction review the work before you rely on it or send it to a borrower, investor, counterparty, or regulator. Laws, rates, and market data change. The final work product is yours.
Inside this skill
The actual file you get. Members can read it in full before saving it.
REO Disposition Planner
The foreclosure is the lender's fight; the REO is the lender's cost. Every month a lender-owned property sits, it burns taxes, insurance, utilities and management time, and it is exposed to vandalism, code fines and a slipping market. Lenders lose most on REO not from the sale price but from the six months spent deciding what to do. This skill turns the decision into a plan: secure it, value it honestly, decide repair versus as-is on arithmetic, pick the channel on net recovery, and put dates on everything.
Works for residential investment property (single-family, 2–4 unit, condo), half-finished fix-and-flip or construction projects, land, and small-balance commercial.
Step 1 — Intake
| Input | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| How and when acquired | ✅ | Foreclosure sale (trustee's or sheriff's deed), deed-in-lieu; recording date; any post-sale redemption period still running |
| Title status | ✅ | Owner's title policy or report after acquisition; surviving liens (juniors after a deed-in-lieu, taxes, HOA, mechanics' liens) |
| Claim or book basis | ✅ | Loan balance and advances at acquisition, and the carrying value on the lender's books — the recovery benchmark |
| Property details | ✅ | Type, size, units, year built, lot, zoning |
| Occupancy | ✅ | Vacant, former borrower, tenants (with leases?), unknown occupants |
| Condition | ✅ | Inspection or walkthrough notes, photos, and for a stalled project the percent complete, open permits and stored materials |
| Valuations | ✅ | BPOs, appraisal (as-is and as-repaired), broker comps — each with date and source |
| Repair scope and bids | For the repair decision | Contractor bids, not estimates from the listing broker alone |
| Carrying costs | ✅ | Taxes, insurance, utilities, HOA, lawn/snow/pool, security, management — monthly |
| Lender constraints | Helpful | Liquidity needs, fund term, whether fund documents allow holding or improving real estate, appetite for renovation risk |
Minimum viable: acquisition date and type, occupancy, one dated valuation, a condition summary and monthly carrying costs. Everything else is marked unknown and becomes a day-one task.
Step 2 — Day-one checklist: secure, insure, stabilize
Owner obligations start at acquisition. Assign an owner and a date to every line.
| Item | What to do |
|---|
Reading the full skill counts as a download. The contributor receives your name, company, and email.
Ratings & reviews
No written reviews yet. If you run this on a live file, say how it went. The next lender reading this page is deciding whether to trust it.
Examination record
Run it in Claude
- Copy the install command above
- Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor
- It writes the skill in, fills in your firm’s details, and test-runs it with you
Prefer the file? The prompt above is for a package you already downloaded.
Details
More from The Helvetica Group
They publish here under a verified work email. Their other skills, and how to reach them, are on their contributor page.