BiggerPockets

Can Virtual Assistants Help Real Estate Agents With Broker Price Opinions?

Saturday, April 03

Banks and other Lending Institutions are overwhelmed with a record number of properties needing Broker Price Opinions (BPOs). This is an opportunity for Real Estate Agents to increase their earnings. Executing a BPO is an additional stream of income for agents because agents get paid after the BPO is finished, which is much better than waiting for a property to get sold. If an agent accepts a large number of BPO assignments, it won't take long before he/she gets overwhelmed with just the thought of having to handle the entire process alone. There is a way to increase the number of BPO orders while making sure that the quality of work exceeds the expectations of the BPO companies. Let us first find out what a BPO is.

What is a Broker Price Opinion?

A BPO is essentially a tool used by banks and lenders to determine the value of a property without having to pay for a full blown property appraisal. An agent is usually assigned the task of carrying out the BPO which can be an exterior BPO - requiring only the pictures of; the street, the street name, the address numerals, the front of the property, the side(s), the back and so on; typically pictures that can be taken without entering the property itself OR an interior BPO - requiring pictures of the interior, pictures of every room, repairs needed, mechanical parts like the water heater, HVAC, sump pump and so on.

These pictures are usually accompanied by additional information of three sold and three actively listed properties that are comparable to the subject properties. Agents are paid more for the interior BPOs than the exteriors. Depending on the market area, agents can get paid between $30 on the low end to as high as $75 (and sometimes even more).

How to increase the number of BPO assignment by using a Virtual Assistant (VA)

• 
  Registering with new BPO companies: The VA can help get additional BPO assignments by taking over the time consuming task of signing up with new BPO companies. The VA gives the required information and fill out the application forms on behalf of the real estate agent. The competition between agents for BPOs is fierce; it can easily become a question of how badly an agent wants it and how quickly can the agent accept it. In order to get a sizeable and predictable number of BPO orders daily, the agent needs to sign up with a lot of BPO companies.
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  Following up with BPO company contacts: The VA can help the real estate agent follow up with key contacts at the BPO companies in order to get assigned BPOs. Most times these contacts will say they are no longer looking for agents or might just tell the VA to be patient and wait to be assigned a BPO. The solution is really to attempt to get them to assign BPOs that are needed in a hurry - rushed BPOs or those that were previously assigned to other agents who for one reason or the other did not do a good job on it. The VA can call these contacts quite frequently using a standard script to ask for "BPO Re-Assignments" and "rushed ordered BPOs". After helping with these kinds of BPOs the agent can become a much needed resource to BPO Companies because they need agents to correctly turn in BPO that other agents dropped the ball on or BPOs that they need to get back immediately.
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  Entering in time consuming BPO data: The VA can help enter the BPO data into the system used by the BPO companies so the agent can spend time doing more important things. All that needs to be done is to supply the VA with the comparable sold and actively listed properties in form of a Comparable Market Analysis (CMA), as well as the pictures of the subject property. Once the VA has completely entered in the data, the real estate agent can then go back and quickly review the data and enter in the final comments to establish the value of the property. One of the reasons why using a VA to enter in the data is a great option is - this allows the agent to keep track of what type of information each BPO company requires and essentially create a system for the VA to actually pull the data on their own.
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  Taking pictures of the property: This point has two sides to it because it depends on where the VA is located. If the VA is located in the state as the subject property, then the agent can actually train the VA on how to take the required pictures for the interior and exterior BPOs so that the VA can go out and take the pictures. In situations where the VA is not located in the same state, the VA can help find people to take the pictures by posting ads on online classifieds such as Craigslist, Kijiji and so on. In this economy folks are eager for a paying job, I suggest paying them $10 per property and also paying for their gas. The VA will then be responsible in coordinating the picture taking activities of these folks by letting them know the addresses for each property, the types of pictures required and when they are due back.

These are the various reasons why it makes sense for Real Estate Agents to hire Virtual Assistants help with BPOs. It really boils down to the systems put in place. If a good system for doing BPOs is already established, a VA can easily take on some of the tasks or all of it so as to free up time for the agent to work on more BPO orders while ensuring the quality of work so that their relationship with the BPO companies is well maintained.

Owen McGab Enaohwo provides Realtors® with trained Real Estate Virtual Assistant who assist agents with getting their time consuming tasks done. To subscribe for more free tips and advice on how to hire the right VA or to watch the video and download the audio of this particular article then please go to: http://www.HireYourVirtualAssistant.com/blog

9 Ways Virtual Assistants Can Help Real Estate Agents Who Negotiate Short Sales

Monday, March 15

The "short" in short sale simply means that the amount paid at the sale of a property on behalf of the borrower for an outstanding mortgage is less than the amount owed. But there is nothing "short" about the process. In fact it should be called "long sale" because real estate professionals who specialize in short sale transactions are well aware that - patience, diligent follow up and a long wait - is the name of the game.

The current Real Estate Market

Due to the increasing numbers of distressed homeowners, there has been an upsurge in the number of potential short sales available to real estate agents. Many of these homeowners need someone to negotiate their short sale once they have decided that it is the best option for them to use to avoid foreclosure. The sheer amount of documents to be prepared as well as the time spent on the phone going back and forth with lenders makes investing in a Virtual Assistant (VA) a strategic decision.

Now, "How can hiring a VA ensure that each short sale negotiation is carried out more efficiently and effectively?" To answer this question, let's go through the entire process and then point out crucial areas where a virtual assistant can complement the agent's efforts.

The Short Sale Process

Short sales usually follow the same sequence of steps for those real estate agents who handle the entire process from start to finish; it begins with the agent marketing for prospective clients, screening them, signing up the listings, getting the lender's specific requirements and instructions, sending in the Authorization to Release Information document to the lender, listing the property on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), scheduling showings and following up with potential buyer agents, preparing and submitting the short sale packet, following up with the lender once it has been initiated, getting the short sale approved by the lender and finally, getting the buyer to close on the transaction.

1 - Marketing for clients: Agents have various ways to find clients such as sending out direct mails, going door knocking, internet marketing and so on. The VA can assist the agent by handling all the calls that come in as a result of the marketing effort. The VA can also schedule time for the prospects to speak with the agent in order to get all their real estate specific questions answered as well as follow up with them prior to an appointment to confirm their availability.

2 - Screening potential clients: To start off the process, agents usually have to screen potential clients to find out if they meet certain conditions that qualify them to sell their property as a short sale. These conditions are:

a. The home owner is experience a financial hardship.

b. The current value of the property is less than the amount owed to the lender.

The VA can do the screening process for the agent, so the agent only spends time explaining the entire short sale process to the client and the steps to be taken. This allows the agent to save time.

3 - Preparing the listing documents: Once the homeowner has decided to move forward with a short sale, the VA can then prepare the listing documents. This step frees the agent from to spending time putting together the required paperwork. Once the paper work is done, the agent can meet with the homeowner to sign them up as a client.

4 - Getting the lender's short sale requirements: During the first call to the lender the VA can get all the necessary information such as the fax number to send the authorization, the fax number to send the complete short sale packet, the status of the loan and pending foreclosure and so on. Since the lender may not have already received the "Authorization to Release Information" document from the homeowner giving them the authority to speak with the agent and the VA, hence the VA can set up a three-way call whereby the lender gets to speak with the VA while the homeowner is on the line. The agent doesn't have to be on the phone to do all this because it's usually the same set of questions that each lender will be asked so this can be systemized and delegated to the VA.

5 - Sending in the Authorization to Release information: After the first call to the lender the VA can immediately get this document from the homeowner and send it in to the lender's designated fax number. The authorization has to state that the homeowner has given both the agent and the VA the authority to talk to the lender on their behalf, its also necessary for the VA to send it in as soon as possible because it takes time for the authorization to take effect with the lender.

6 - Placing the property on the MLS: This step is self explanatory; essentially the VA enters in the listing information into the MLS along with the pictures of the property in order for it to be exposed to buyer for offers. The agent sets the property price at a level that will bring in a flood of buyer quickly, while the VA can takes care of all the time consuming data entry required to list the property on the MLS.

7 - Scheduling showings and following up with potential buyer agents: Assuming the agent listed the property at the right price, it won't take long for buyer agents to start calling to take their buyers to see the property. The VA can take these calls and give the buyer agent all the necessary information for them to get access to the property. If the property is not vacant, the VA can find out from the homeowner the best time for the buyer agent and their client to come out to see the property. If the selling agent needs to be at the property during the showing, then the VA can make sure that the showing is scheduled at a time that is convenient for all parties. Also the VA can follow up with buyer agents after the showings to get instant feedback from them to see if their client is interested in buying the property.

8 - Preparing and submitting the short sale packet: Once the agent gets a suitable offer from a buyer and the homeowner accepts it, the VA can prepare all the necessary documents required by the lender for the short sale and then send it to the designated fax number. This process can be very time consuming because it is of utmost importance that the complete short sale packet is turned in. Hence it can be a benefit to the agent to know that they don't have to be bugged down by this task because the VA can handle it.

9 - Following up with the lender once the short sale has been initiated: A couple of days after the short sale packet is submitted the VA can begin the process of regularly calling the lender to find out the status of the short sale. This is a very monotonous process because it involves being on hold for quite some time until someone picks up the phone. When this happens the VA can then transfer the call to the agent to find out the current status of the short sale. The initial follow up process continues for another period of time until the lender assigns a Loss Mitigation officer to the case. It is at this point that the agent actually begins the negotiation process. The loss mitigator then orders a Broker Price Opinion (BPO) to determine the value of the property and establish the amount the lender is willing to net as a result of the short sale. The entire short sale negotiation process can take typically between one month to four months (or more) depending on the lender hence the VA can handle all the follow up calls so the agents only gets on the calls once someone representing the lender is available.

Conclusion

As an agent, the most productive activities is getting new listings, negotiating contracts and closing transactions. As a short sale specialist two additional activities needs to be added to the three above which is ethically influencing the BPO so that the final value reflects the the current value of the property and also negotiating with the loss mitigator to approve the short sale in a timely manner in order for the buyer to close on the deal. Everything else in the short sale process can and should be delegated to the Virtual Assistant. By dividing the short sale process into those task that are most important and those that the VA can handle, it allows the agent to focus on what matters most - developing a track record as the "go to" agent for getting short sale negotiated and approved successfully.

Owen McGab Enaohwo provides Realtors® with trained Real Estate Virtual Assistant who assist agents with getting their time consuming tasks done. To subscribe for more free tips and advice on how to hire the right VA or to watch the video and download the audio of this particular article then please go to: http://www.HireYourVirtualAssistant.com/blog

Why Hiring a Virtual Assistant From the Philippines Make Perfect Sense

Wednesday, September 30

Business as usual or the new ways of doing things

             

As an entrepreneur, you need to determine the number of employees required for your business and how much it will cost you to retain them on a full-time basis. If not done properly, you might experience some capital restraints which in turn might prevent you from being able to grow your business. The more successful your business, the more administrative tasks you will have; the more time you spend on such tasks, the less time you have to engage in business activities that generate income. Hiring a Virtual Assistant is an obvious solution to your staffing problems; you can avoid having to pay expensive employee taxes and benefits. No need to look for or rent additional office space for your employees. By means of a virtual assistant, you get the advantages of professional support and also get to reduce your overhead costs. 

                                                                                 

What is a Virtual Assistant (VA)? Why Choose a VA from the Philippines?

                                                                                                                  

A Virtual Assistant is an independent contractor who provides proficient administrative, technical, or creative assistance to clients without having to be physically present in the client's office. Hiring a Virtual Assistant from the Philippines make a perfect sense since Filipinos are hard workers and have an impeccable work ethic compared to other international VAs. You can find quality but less expensive workforce from the Philippines. Aside from skills, they value competence and are well versed in both spoken and written English. English language is the primary means of communication in the Philippines.

 

Virtual Assistant VS Full time staff      

                                                                 

          Outsourcing your company's administrative tasks to a virtual assistant is a wise decision because of the cost savings compared to traditional employees. When hiring full-time employees you will have to consider wages, insurance benefits, health benefits, vacation pay, office equipments, office space and training. Employee benefits are one of the biggest cash drains on business. By hiring VAs, you will reduce employee turnover, reduce training costs, increase productivity and increase the bottom line of your business.

 

Virtual Assistants from Philippines VS Other countries (such as India and China)

 

Ideally, you will want to hire virtual assistants who speak English as their first language compared to those who speak English but it's not their main language. This causes language barriers, poor comprehension, accents and communication gaps.

 

Philippines is known in the outsourcing industry as the "go to" country for the one of the best talent pools to meet the ever growing outsourcing needs of entrepreneurs globally. In fact there are US based companies who have opted to build institution in the Philippines and have chosen Filipinos to run their business. Filipinos are more fluent in English compared to other countries like India and China. Philippines is known for having people who value work, can easily comprehend instructions, can work lengthy hours at an affordable price and deliver results.

Owen McGab Enaohwo provides business owners with English speaking Virtual Assistants at HYVA L.L.C. where helping them create effective and efficient systems for their Business Process Outsourcing needs is his specialty. His goal today is to provide Virtual Assistant solutions that are customized for you and made with your best interests in mind! For more useful information and tips, please go to: http://www.HireYourVirtualAssistant.com/blog

Documents Required by Lenders in Order to Begin a Short Sale Transaction

Wednesday, September 30

A Short Sale is a type of real estate transaction wherein a homeowner sells their property for less than what they owe the lender. For most lenders to consider a short sale, the homeowner must be experiencing a financial hardship and is unable to make their mortgage payments. Also, the mortgage itself has to be upside down; meaning that the value of the property has dropped and hence there is no equity. The lender takes a loss, and any unsettled balance is usually forgiven. In order to begin the process of negotiating and then approving the short sale, you will need to submit a set of documents required by most lenders. The primary documents are:

• Authorization to Release information. This authorization is an important document because it instructs the lender to discuss your loan with a third party, which in this case is your real estate agent who is helping you navigate the short sale process. The authorization should contain the following data.

a.  Name of all the borrowers

b.  Social security number of all the borrowers

c.  Address of Property

d.  Names of lenders/creditors

e.  Loan number

f.    Signatures of all the borrowers

g.  Date

h.  Name and contact information of your real estate agent (or whomever you want the lender to release your loan information to)

 

• Borrowers Financial Statement. This document highlights in detail your assets and liabilities. It is a worksheet that accounts for all your income and expenses. It also should include your co-borrower's financial information.

 

• Listing Contract. This is the contract between you and the listing agent. It is needed so the lender can see that your agent has made the effort to expose the property to as many potential buyers as possible in order to received offers by placing it on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). It also highlights the commission charged by the real estate agent. Agents are often needed in order to speed up the process.

 

• Purchase and Sale Agreement. This is an agreement that contains the accepted buyer offer. The contract should be legitimate and must be signed by all the owners of the property. A short sale package is considered incomplete without this document. Only packages with a contract that has been signed by both the buyer and the seller should be submitted to lender.

 

• Borrowers last two pay stubs. You need to include your two most recent pay stubs in the short sale package. This allows the lender to easily determine how much you make and verify your financial hardship. If you are self-employed you can provide a loss and profit report. For unemployed borrower you must present the latest pay stub available.

 

• Two months of Bank statements. You need to provide your two most recent bank statements. If you have more than one account, all the statements must be made available for the lender to review.

 

• Last two Tax returns. You need to provide your two most recent yearly tax returns. If you have missed filing your taxes then present the latest available and create a personal note to the lender stating the reasons why.

 

• Personal hardship letter. This letter must contain your true financial situation and the reasons why you need a short sale. It's always better to mention in this letter all the steps you had taken previously to avoid having to sell the house, how getting a short sale approved is much better for you than a foreclosure and that you understand that you will not be getting any proceeds from the discounted sale of the property.

 

• Comparable Market Analysis of value (CMA). This is based on the characteristics of the property being considered, the number of similar properties for sale and so on; it is the estimated current value of the property. Your real estate agent should prepare the CMA and submit it with short sale packet because it helps to give the lender a clear sense of how property values have dropped in your area, hence the need for the short sale. Once the negotiation has begun, the lender will usually order a more detailed CMA called a Broker Priced Opinion of value (BPO) from a third party company in order to determine the current value of the property.

The documents listed above are the vital documents needed by most lenders to begin the short sale process. However each lender might demand additional documents, hence your agent should contact the lender ahead of time and get their list of required short sale documents before submitting the complete short sale package.

 

Owen McGab Enaohwo is a Real Estate Investor at ZENITH PROPERTY SOLUTIONS L.L.C. and a licensed Real Estate Agent. He specializes in Short Sales, Nonperforming Notes, REOs & BPOs. His goal today is to provide real estate solutions that are customized for you and made with your best interests in mind! For more useful information and tips, please go to: http://www.ZenithPropertySolutions.com/blog

What is a Short Sale & Why You Should Have One Done For You an Agent

Wednesday, September 30

What is a Short Sale?

A Short Sale is a real estate transaction in which the revenues from the sale fall short of the balance owed on a loan secured by the property sold. They have become the order of the day due to the financial hardships experienced by homeowners whose mortgages are upside down and can no longer make their mortgage payment for one reason or the other. Instead of letting the bank foreclose and ruin their credit, homeowners are now opting to get one done.

 

Who Benefits from a Short Sale?

After a short sale, the home is sold to the buyer and the seller walks away without any cash from the sale; all proceeds go to the lenders and other creditors on title. The main advantage to the seller is that he/she can avoid owing the balance of the loan and also get to avoid the long term negative consequences of a foreclosure on their credit.

The buyer's advantage is clearly the prospects of getting their new home at a significant discount compared to what they might have paid for it a few years back. Buyers should be aware that the process often takes time and are required in most cases to purchase the property as is. In the end, the reward for being patient is a new home at a reasonable price.

Mortgage lenders benefit as well, they avoid the cost of a lengthy foreclosure process. Most lenders will approve a short sale if the seller can prove that they are financially insolvent and also if the lender is made to see that it's in their best interest to take the discount now instead of taking the property back after a foreclosure and then trying to sell it for less than what they can net right at the moment.

 

The Short Sale Process

The paperwork required can be quite daunting and laborious to put together but if done properly by an expert, it will get approved by the lender in a shorter period of time and surely benefit all parties involved. The process will differ for each lender but in summary it will usually work as follows:

1) Lender is contacted to discuss the possibility of a short sale.

2) The seller gathers all the paperwork that the bank requires and shows proof of financial hardship.

3) Lender reviews the completed package sent in by the seller and then starts the process to verify if it's in their best interest to accept the offer from the buyer.

4) Then the last phase is the follow up and negotiation phase until the lender approves or denies it.

 

Hiring a Licensed Real Estate Agent

 It is very important to hire an agent to get the short sale approved and find buyers for the house, a real estate professional who can answer your questions and help you steer through the process from the beginning to the end. A Licensed Real Estate Agent also performs their duties with the best interests of the seller in mind because they are bound by certain fiduciary responsibilities and their activities are regulated by the State's real estate commission.

The foreclosure process can be long, stressful and embarrassing for the borrower. Getting a Short sale approved is the answer and all parties involved end up in a better position at the end of the process than if a foreclosure is completed .The lender automatically gets their money when the sale closes and the homeowner can walk away from the property he/she can't afford. The buyer ends up buying a good property at a discounted price. Getting one approved can be very difficult and time consuming for someone who is not an expert, if you are considering it, make sure that you hire a Real Estate Agent that is an expert at getting them approved by the lender.

Owen McGab Enaohwo is a Real Estate Investor at ZENITH PROPERTY SOLUTIONS L.L.C. and a licensed Real Estate Agent. He specializes in Short Sales, Nonperforming Notes, REOs & BPOs. His goal today is to provide real estate solutions that are customized for you and made with your best interests in mind! For more useful information and tips, please go to: http://www.ZenithPropertySolutions.com/blog

7 ways a Real Estate Agent can become Productive through Virtual Assistant

Saturday, August 08

Most successful Real Estate Agents know that creating systems for every process in their businesses allows them to be more effective and efficient at delivering the necessary solutions that their clients desire. Systems once created free up time for you to concentrate on income producing tasks; hence the need for you to hire a Virtual Assistant (VA) to help simplify your life. Here are 7 ways a VA can help with your daily time consuming tasks.

Administrative work

VAs will assist you in your day-to-day administrative tasks such as sending faxes, setting up and confirming appointments and much more. Once a system is created to handle an administrative task, it can then be handed over to the VA.

 

Telemarketing

Most agents dread making cold calls to leads; you can have your VA use specific scripts and make the initial calls. You can then take over the conversation with leads once they have been converted to warm prospects.

 

Internet marketing

VAs are able to perform several internet marketing tasks such as; posting to your real estate blogs, maintaining your online social media profiles, creating viral videos, writing articles and so on.

 

Database Management

VAs can maintain lead data and help store the information in a database. They can search the data, run custom queries on them and easily provide you with the reports on the data when needed.

 

Bookkeeping

VAs can help prepare records of your financial transactions, check the accuracy of figures and calculations. They can also do preliminary audits of your books before handing them over to your accountant.

 

Marketing Analysis on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS)

VAs can conduct preliminary marketing research on the MLS by helping you prepare Comparable Market Analysis (CMAs) which you can then give to your clients and/or customers.

 

Marketing Campaigns

VAs can help you set up marketing campaigns to sell the listings you have such as; creating and mailing flyers, set up Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems to give property specific information to prospective buyers and sellers, prepare the necessary information and pictures for properties you plan on listing on the MLS and much more.

 

In summary the possibilities are endless. A Virtual Assistant can help a Real Estate Agent become more efficient and effective overall. All you need to do is spend the time creating a system and then hand it over to them to execute the task.

 

If you are need to hire an efficient and effective English speaking Virtual Assistant from the Philippines that has been already trained to meet your needs as a Real Estate Agent, please go to http://www.HireYourVirtualAssistant.com.