BPO/REO blog

How to Get Started Doing BPOs – Part 3

This is Part 3 of a 3-Part series, where I give you the basics about how to sign up and get started with BPO companies. Today, we’ll go over the data entry portion of the BPO.

Data Entry

Now that you have accepted the order and gathered info/taken your pictures, it’s time to input you data into the BPO form. Read more »

How to Get Started Doing BPOs – Part 2

This is Part 2 of a 3-Part series, where I give you the basics about how to sign up and get started with BPO companies. Today, we’ll go over your initial order, from the time it pops into your inbox to viewing the property.

You’ve got Mail!

Depending on the company, there’s different ways you’ll be notified of a new BPO order. Some companies send out an automated email to all agents within a certain radius of the property. Some companies require you to log in to their website to check for new orders. Read more »

How to Get Started Doing BPOs – Part 1

This is Part 1 of a 3-Part series, where I give you the basics about how to sign up and get started with BPO companies.

For the most part, getting started is very easy. Most agents are pleasantly surprised with the ease of the process. As an example, an agent friend of mine got signed up with one company and started receiving emails for BPO assignments THAT SAME DAY! She was very excited. Read more »

Downsizing a City to Save Itself? – Detroit is considering it…

Recently, preliminary plans were revealed by Detroit mayor Dave Bing that would mean massive demolition of dilapidated homes in Detroit. See link below:

Article

I found this article fascinating – with all the negativity that has surrounded Detroit over the past few years, it’s good to see that someone is trying to resurrect the city.

In particular, this statement stood out to me:

“Roughly a quarter of the 139-square-mile city could go from urban to semi-rural.”

Wow – I’ve never heard of such a thing. I like the idea – vacant houses lead to vandalism, drug activity, and other crimes and getting rid of these homes will theoretically reduce these crimes. I’ve always believed that a lot of crimes being committed are crimes of opportunity – if we remove the opportunity, we can remove (some of) the crime.

In addition to reducing crime, it should help the city recover economically, and hopefully stabilize the property values of the remaining homes.

I’m sure the citizens living in these targeted areas are concerned, so hopefully there is a solid plan in place to relocate these citizens to safer neighborhoods. The article mentions that government funding will be necessary for these relocations, along with the cost of buying the land and razing the buildings. In the end, I think most people would welcome the chance to get out of a desolate, crime-ridden area to get a fresh start.

Your Mindset Means Everything

Not too long ago, I received an angry email from a real estate agent. He was completing a BPO and he went on & on about how much work he was doing for such little pay. He even went as far as saying he would not complete another BPO, they’re just not worth his time any more.

Real estate, like many things in life, is what you make of it. Read more »

Mechanical photos

Often when you’re doing an interior bpo, the lender will require you to get photos of the major mechanicals in the property.

Many times when auditing orders, I saw agents including photos of appliances: dishwasher, refrigerator, stove/oven. But these are not major mechanicals – some lenders may require these photos but they certainly won’t call them major mechanicals.

Normally it means getting photos of the furnace, hot water tank, air conditioning unit, and electrical panel. These are the major mechanical items in the house.

Why are they needed?

Why does the lender ask for these photos? Mainly, the lender needs to see the condition of the units, but maybe even more importantly, they need to know they’re still THERE! If the lender had a BPO done in August, with all the major mechanical units in place, then has another BPO done in December, and they’re all missing, there’s a problem!
Read more »

Was that a Ghost?

An agent I know was performing an interior BPO recently. The house was an older home, built on the 1920′s, in a rough part of town. She went inside the property for interior photos and was taking a picture of the bathroom (from the hallway).

The photo happened to catch the bathroom mirror, so you can see the agent with a flash in front of her face, and next to the flash, what appears to be a person! The agent was alone in the house at the time (or so she thought!)

Take a look below:

If you zoom in on the mirror itself, it’s startling. Even though it’s hard to make out the exact facial features, it looks to me like it’s clearly a person. If it’s a person, there’s only two possibilities: someone was in actually the house with her (which is creepy), or that’s a ghost (which is creepier).

The thing is, I personally know this agent and I know she has no photoshop skills, this is a real, un-altered picture. In fact, once she took a look at the photo, she was so freaked out that she could not complete the bpo, and had the bpo company re-assign the order to another agent. Not that I blame her!

You hear about these kind of things, and I know there’s tv programs about it, but you don’t think too much about it until it actually happens to someone you KNOW. Wow.

Retro BPOs

What is a Retro BPO? (AKA Retroactive BPO or Historical BPO)

The word “Retro” brings back memories of decades past. But in the BPO world, “Retro” only means a few years, not decades.

Quite simply, it’s a Broker’s Price Opinion (BPO) ordered by a lender, which requires you to give a value on the property as of a certain date in the PAST.

It’s like hopping into a time machine, and going back X years to find out what the property was worth back then.

For instance, if the lender says they want a Retro BPO completed with a Retro date of 10/10/2005, you will need to go back into your MLS program and pull your comps from that time period. You will “pretend” that TODAY is 10/10/2005, and proceed with pulling your comps accordingly.

Typically, this means going back 6 months, so your comparable sales should be from 3/10/05 through 10/10/05. Anything earlier than 3/10/05 will likely require an explanation as to why you went farther back than 6 months. Likewise, any comparable sales dated after 10/10/05 will likely get rejected since it’s past the retro date.

Easy to do

The Retro BPO can be one of the easiest BPOs you perform as an agent. Typically, the lender does not require any photos of the subject property. Sometimes they will have you verify whether the property is still standing. But no photos are typically required. Also, the form itself is usually easier than a standard BPO form. You will only need to provide closed sales as comps, with no competitive listings required.

Why would the lender order a Retro BPO? There are many reasons – the most common reason is to determine if there was fraud in the real estate transaction (appraisal fraud or mortgage fraud). Also, it could be used for probate/trust/estate purposes, court cases, divorce, bankruptcy, or just to “spot check” appraisals as part of a Quality Control process.

Regardless of the reason, there’s a definite need for the Retro BPO in our current marketplace. If you’re looking to add a little extra income to your bottom line, try picking up a few of these Retro BPOs and see how you like them.