Meeting the BPO Agent....
My recent BPO from WaMu was a drive-by, they didn't check the inside of the home.
I've been told that the next one will also be a drive-by...they don't reveal when it will be done, and there's no appointment set because the BPO agent doesn't go inside the property.
Is this normal? How can I persuade the BPO if I can't meet the agent?
Most Popular Reply
Agents say: We are not paid enough and price dictates quality.
My response: No one forces you to accept the $40. If you accept the order and fail to do your due diligence up to the ethical standards you were sworn to uphold, then you are a fraud and it will be only a matter time before your are out of the industry.
Agents say: Sometimes agents are doing BPOs to build a relationship with asset managers. I am friends with several large REO agents. Big REO agents all have one thing in common..... Quality of work and persistence.
I am a former agent and meet with my former colleagues to discuss the industry all the time. I often joke about all the agents I run into and how so many of them are doing BPOs thinking they can develop relationships with asset managers. That is an absolute JOKE! Everytime I hear an agent tell me this I nearly nearly rupture a vessel in my brain trying not to laugh. Are agents really this stupid? YES!
The industry has changed so much. Independent facilitators are dispatched to distribute leads to the agents. These facilitators have absolutely no direct contact with the loss mitigators and especially the asset managers.
It is even rarer that asset managers pick their own REO relationships. These decisions are made by executives many positions up from the lowly asset managers. The REO agents I know fly out and meet these executives and play golf, take them to Gentlemen's clubs, and steak dinners.
The agents that develop relationships with REO decision makers are ones that first work up the ranks on a team where the lead agent has developed these relationships.
If your a budding agent trying to get your foot in the REO door, stop doing BPOs from facilitators. Join successful REO teams and do high-quality responsible work.
If your doing BPOs to pay the bills, then DO YOUR JOB! Be reponsible and realize a bad BPO does no help the market. And stop telling everyone your doing BPOs to develop your REO career.
I have nothing against agents. We are all trying to do our jobs and make a buck.
Investors:
Look no further than the name Broker's Price Opinion with the keyword being opinion. Four weeks of night school a test and a few our of training and your opinion suddenly means something? I have never ever ever received a good BPO. I plan to get hosed on the BPO every single time. You should rely on influencing the BPO instead focus on trying to discredit it. This is done independently of the results using third party support. If the loss mitigator believes the BPO is inaccurate or provides misinformation, then they will be more likely to use your comps and support in place of the agents.
Example: A couple of months ago, I met a BPO agent at a property and gave her my handpicked comps (of distressed properties), a copy of a home inspection report, and repair estimates. I showed her how the previous owners had taken 3 bedroom 1 bath and concerted it into a 1 bedroom 1 bath. There was not one single comp with a 1/1 SFR in a five mile radius. I tried to tell her she will need to take similar sized properties ( 3/1) and reduce the cost to return it back.
Two weeks later I get a call from the lender telling me the BPO came back at $95K. Two of the sold comps were 4 bedroom 2 baths and one was a 3/2.
I pointed out to the negotiator the poor comparisons. I also pointed out the fact the agent lived two blocks away.
Well, I was able to negotiate a $66K PP and I am in the process of fixing and flipping.
The lesson I learned from this BPO is sometimes a horrible BPO does work.
MDA
Transunion
is a great company to do BPOs for.
I have no business relationship with them.
They pay $42 per BPO, with NO INTERIOR.
have a nice day.
-- Dawn
Talk about a thread getting out of hand!
But, thanks for the laughs!
to do full inspection of the house to determine if the roof is in good or bad condition, if the AC and furnace units are functioning, etc.) These items play a huge factor in the value of a home and by the investor providing this information to the BPO agent, he/she is assisting the BPO agent to do a proper and full job.
Will, I cannot believe that any agent would give any kind of relied upon opinion on a furnace/AC? A roof, maybe mention the visual condition, but to imply that with a Interior BPO you get some kind of detailed Roof and Furnace/AC analysis is a bit much? I'm sure that you will correct me if I am wrong? Even appraisers do not do that?! Yes, I am out of the loop, but let's be reasonable. That sounds more like a walk through / closing inspection or the 14 day window of Buyer inspections to verify TDS etc. A BPO would not be inspecting the condition of furnace and or AC? would it? Also, I do not believe that all BPO agents list properties. It's a new game, I could be wrong, I only speak from my limited experience. Nothing more/nothing less. Some guys might look good with boobs, ya' never know! I actually knew someone (indirectly) that used the 2nd to get some big boobies to please an immature male, yes.. maybe defensive, but real! Where would we be without personality? Bland, bland, bland!
-- Dawn
Agents say: We are not paid enough and price dictates quality.
My response: No one forces you to accept the $40. If you accept the order and fail to do your due diligence up to the ethical standards you were sworn to uphold, then you are a fraud and it will be only a matter time before your are out of the industry.
Agents say: Sometimes agents are doing BPOs to build a relationship with asset managers. I am friends with several large REO agents. Big REO agents all have one thing in common..... Quality of work and persistence.
I am a former agent and meet with my former colleagues to discuss the industry all the time. I often joke about all the agents I run into and how so many of them are doing BPOs thinking they can develop relationships with asset managers. That is an absolute JOKE! Everytime I hear an agent tell me this I nearly nearly rupture a vessel in my brain trying not to laugh. Are agents really this stupid? YES!
The industry has changed so much. Independent facilitators are dispatched to distribute leads to the agents. These facilitators have absolutely no direct contact with the loss mitigators and especially the asset managers.
It is even rarer that asset managers pick their own REO relationships. These decisions are made by executives many positions up from the lowly asset managers. The REO agents I know fly out and meet these executives and play golf, take them to Gentlemen's clubs, and steak dinners.
The agents that develop relationships with REO decision makers are ones that first work up the ranks on a team where the lead agent has developed these relationships.
If your a budding agent trying to get your foot in the REO door, stop doing BPOs from facilitators. Join successful REO teams and do high-quality responsible work.
If your doing BPOs to pay the bills, then DO YOUR JOB! Be reponsible and realize a bad BPO does no help the market. And stop telling everyone your doing BPOs to develop your REO career.
I have nothing against agents. We are all trying to do our jobs and make a buck.
Investors:
Look no further than the name Broker's Price Opinion with the keyword being opinion. Four weeks of night school a test and a few our of training and your opinion suddenly means something? I have never ever ever received a good BPO. I plan to get hosed on the BPO every single time. You should rely on influencing the BPO instead focus on trying to discredit it. This is done independently of the results using third party support. If the loss mitigator believes the BPO is inaccurate or provides misinformation, then they will be more likely to use your comps and support in place of the agents.
Example: A couple of months ago, I met a BPO agent at a property and gave her my handpicked comps (of distressed properties), a copy of a home inspection report, and repair estimates. I showed her how the previous owners had taken 3 bedroom 1 bath and concerted it into a 1 bedroom 1 bath. There was not one single comp with a 1/1 SFR in a five mile radius. I tried to tell her she will need to take similar sized properties ( 3/1) and reduce the cost to return it back.
Two weeks later I get a call from the lender telling me the BPO came back at $95K. Two of the sold comps were 4 bedroom 2 baths and one was a 3/2.
I pointed out to the negotiator the poor comparisons. I also pointed out the fact the agent lived two blocks away.
Well, I was able to negotiate a $66K PP and I am in the process of fixing and flipping.
The lesson I learned from this BPO is sometimes a horrible BPO does work.
I agree. It depends on the integrity of the person doing the BPO. I have noticed a trend of BPOs of shortsales that end up at Trustee Sales with Opening Bids above the SS List Price. Banks want to get top dollar, can you blame them? I have been told by agents that CalRedd is easier/faster for BPO pricing than most local MLS, the quality of the BPO is directly related to the experience of the agent in any given area. Most areas in this market are a street by street pricing or neighborhood by neighborhood at the least. An accurate BPO is not as easy as one might think, it does take effort and consideration to be as accurate as possible, not everyone is willing to take the time. -- Dawn
Respectively, I have to disagree. The most important word in brokers price opinion is BROKER. When you realize what a broker is and how he makes most of his money, then you will realize why a brokers opinion will almost always be on the high side of the price range because of the commissions they receive.
This is why any pricing should not take into consideration a BPO as it is self serving.
The only true valuations are appraisals of that residence. Even comps are not a good indication as most of the time the price was set by a BPO on the comps thesedays.
Even two identical properties built at the same time, using the same "mold", will not have the same appraisal as the different owners will increase the value or decrease the value by the way they take care of the property.
That being said, the BPO is a starting point to get an indication of what the property should be worth. Then looking into comps in the area will give you an indication of what the property could be made into. The appraisal before fix up will give you an indication of current value.
Using all of these you will understand what you currently have (or may be purchasing), what it should be able to be fixed into, and what it could be made into with proper care.
These show you how much risk you may have to take on to properly fix and sell property. Proper utilization of these pieces of iformation will help you in deciding what method of exit you should use at which point in the process for profit maximation.
All can and should be used depending upon your chosen method of RE dealings. Any reputable person will give you a reputable opinion.
The only true valuation that matters is what the buyer is willing to pay.
Ummm...okaaaaaaaaay. This thread totally went somewhere else.
Anyway, I'm meeting the BPO guy tomorrow. He's doing an interior.
My meeting with the BPO agent went really well. I'll find out her BPO amount in a couple days.
Congrats.
Hope you didn't "influence her" as Dawn may classify you as a greedy and selfish person. :roll:
LOL :roll:
I did influence her.
She's a realtor herself, so I played the "innocent, hard-working realtor" role.
I said "Look, I have cash offers up to 295k on this property. You're a realtor, and you know how this works. I can find conventional offers for 320k, but what if that buyer's lender doesn't appraise it that high? Then my 4-6 months of hard work go down the drain, and the house could foreclose and I'm left with nothing. If you're familiar with the market, you know exactly what I mean."
She understood and said "I'll definitely help you, because I wouldn't want to get screwed on my deal neither."
Not to mention, there's only 4 comps within that area over the past 3 months. 3 of them are built in the 1980's, and comps are at 280-285k. The 4th is new construction built in 2009, sold for 380k. I told her that she should not count that one, and she easily agreed.
So yeah, I have a buyer lined up at 340k who is willing to pay the difference in cash if their lender appraises it lower.
So if she can give me a BPO of 300k, maybe my original offer of 250k will get accepted?!?
H Mann, congrats on getting the interior BPO performed. I'm going to monitor this thread to see the outcome.
Nice Hmann, Nice
If you have comps that support $285, get the BPO submitted at $275k for quick sale. Then your offer of $250k opr even $265k will be strong and most likely get accepted.
If and when you get this deal locked up or even once you find out what the bank comes back with, contact me, I will help you through it.
I can't tell you how many relationships I've had killed by outsourced Indians doing my BPOs...
Thank you for being brave enough to address this problem head-on.
Now, if we could only do something about the nationalized Germans who are constantly forgetting to give me my receipt at the pharmacy...it's an epidemic, I tell you...
We have a real estate brokerage and an arm our our business is performing valuations (BPOs) full time. We perform 20-25 BPO orders every week.
Here is my feedback in response to multiple posts I've read based on our experience:
1) If you only do a few BPOs per week then it's probably not worth the effort.
2) We are told whether to do an exterior or interior BPO - it's not by choice.
3) If an agent need the cash then I would advise them not to do BPOs unless they plan to get a lot of orders per week (we actually use a software that helps us pull comps and maximize our time).
4) Agents are Agents are Agents. People are People are People. Some are on their game, some are not. Someone mentioned REO agents not doing BPOs because they're closing transactions. Some are, yes. They are also performing BPOs for every property that they have in inventory for their Asset Manager
5) Although you can perform BPOs in order to build relationships with asset managers, we would never do so. Most of those BPOs come through some portal company, and there is never any guarantee of business.
6) The mainstream fashion of BPOs now are companies that are set up solely to take valuation orders from lenders. Those companies then shoot them out to agents in their network (us) and explain what type of report their client is requesting.
7) Values are subjective. Period.
8) Yes, a $300 appraisal will most likely get you a more accurate value than a $50 BPO valuation performed by us. But that's not what the lender requested. They requested an exterior drive by of the property and want comparable comps to compare it to.
9) Ha, that's all that I can remember to respond to from what I read.
Feel free to let me know if anyone has any more thoughts, as we are actively performing BPOs in lower Alabama as a sector of our business.