Confessions of an ex-REO team agent...

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Confessions of an ex-REO team agent...

Tuesday, February 15

Due to non-disclosures I signed, I cannot elaborate….

haha, ok, I’m still friends with these people, so I wont throw anyone under the bus or anything.

About this section: I worked for 2.5 years on a top producing REO team. After nearly 450 transactions passing through my hands personally (about 650 total for the whole team) as a transaction coordinator, I crashed and burned and quit. It wasnt pretty.

The truth is, REO listing is very monotonous, all task oriented and downright boring. Essentially, after you WIN the business (not my job), its all the same 5 activities over and over and over (and over, my job). Times that by a few hundred listings, and you now know why that REO broker wont return your phone call. Besides the commission check, there is no gratification with this sort of work either. Long days of BPOs, hundreds of emails, grumpy agents bitching you out, and very little to no creativity equals burnout. Well, for staff anyways. A good REO agent will become untouchable, handing all menial (and sometimes extremely important) tasks, phone calls and communication over to the staff (me). And if things go well enough, the REO agent barely has to show up at all and things will run smoothly if their staff is good enough. I know 3-4 agents like this, and on the other hand I know top producing agents who show up every day and are involved in the BPOs and occupancy checks and talking to asset managers and… you get the idea. The owner was the latter, personally doing BPOs and all the REALLY fun day to day tasks and I respect him for that.

Its not an EASY job either. Between waiting for reimbursements from the bank, scheduling lawn care, dealing with squatters, kicked in doors, graffiti, bitchy agents, managing brokers, whiny staff (not me), MLS violations, city violations, broken pipes, field inspectors, home inspectors, appraisers, flooded basements and complaints to the real estate commission, the 2% paycheck cannot be worth it. Keep this fun in mind the next time you want to chew out an REO agent for not returning your call in 5 minutes.

I’m getting together more detailed questions to answer, and to answer them the best that I can for part 2 of this. I hope to keep this series going, with at least one post per month with stories, observations and experience from the 2.5 years I worked on a top producing REO team. Since I quit due to burnout, I think this is more for me than anyone who would read this.

Comments

Jon K. Reply
over 1 year ago

Wow, Anson, thanks for the behind the scenes view. What do you think the fix is to this tedious process?
Anson Young Reply
over 1 year ago

Jon,

It was eye opening some of the things I saw. I will try and address this in my next installment. But I think its unavoidable, its a rigid task based process on tight deadlines.
Chris V Reply
about 1 year ago

Hey Anson, Great post. I got my license in Fl back in 04 for the sole purpose of having access to the mls. Went to work for a Co. Got mixed up with the wrong crowd. "A Sales Team". The market was still hot at the time. Investing got put on hold. I began noticing banks not approving the way they use to. The REO list was getting bigger by the month. By 06 I finally got to speak to one of the Reo managers at a party. His words. After a few Tequila's. He looks around the room to see if anyone was in earshot. Then he says, " The roof is caving in. Do you know what I mean." They were getting so many forclosures every month that he and his staff couldn't handle it anymore. Fortunately, I was sober enough to get his meaning. Sold my house in late 06. Moved to a rental prop I owned in Pa. Right around the peak. Unfortunately, I missed the opportunity to ask him what the actual protocol was on pricing REO's. Was or is there from the initial BPO a time frame for price to be lowered and by how much? A set percentage for every drop in price? Maybe you could shed some light on the subject. It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,Chris
Charles Perkins Reply
about 1 year ago

Look forward to reading your next post.
Kevin Kaczmarek Reply
about 1 year ago

Thanks for the post Anson. Sounds like an article I read called "Confessions of a Car Salesman". Your posts will give great insight into the way business happens.
Del Monkson Reply
about 1 year ago

interesting read, the knowledge you gained would be worth it!
Bryan A. Reply
about 1 year ago

anson, good to see the other side of the story...i get very impatient with REO agents sometimes--well, with all agents i guess, including my own :)
Josh Prince Reply
about 1 year ago

Great post - really looking forward to the rest of this series!

BiggerPockets

Confessions of an ex-REO team agent...

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