Matt's Blog

It is not rocket science.

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:20:33 -0600

I was showing property today. We went up to a very nice house. I opened the lock box. There were 2 keys. Neither one of them opened the front door. After a couple of minutes the buyer said "Next". This is the second time this has happened to me in the past month. How do agents expect to sell their listings if nobody can see the property? Or is this a way to make sure that they double end the sale?

Foreclosures and the elderly

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:44:36 -0600

There have been a lot of good discussions about foreclosures. One topic I have not seen discussed are foreclosures and the elderly. I know a couple, he is in his 70s, she is in her late 60s. They purchased their house 4 years ago. Now it is worth about half of what they paid for it. They have some health issues. Their son has asked them to move in with him so that he can take care of them. The only thing stopping them is their home.

Sticking it out until the price rises is not an option. Being long distance landlords does not make any sense. Keeping the house vacant also does not make any sense. A short sale is a maybe.

They do not like the idea of foreclosure but feel that they have no choice. The "consequences" of foreclosure mean nothing to them. They do not plan on ever buying another house. They do not care about their credit rating.

Any ideas?

Why do banks use out of the area agents?

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:26:06 -0500

I was assigned an interior BPO today. The contact (and future listing agent) is a company about 400 miles away. I called and they gave me the lock box code. I drove to the house and the locks have been changed but there is no lock box. I called the agent and left voice mail. About 30 minutes later I called again and spoke to a real live person who took a message. It is been over 3 hours and no one has returned my call.

I have dealt with this company before. I was suppose to do an interior on a property in a gated community. I asked for the gate code. I was told to just wait for someone else to go in and follow them. I was told that the lockbox combination was A-B-C. The lockbox needed 4 numbers.

Another time, I was doing a bpo after the property was listed. The house has a 1000 sq ft ranch house. The picture in the mls was of a 2 story home.

None of these are problems if you are not 400 miles away. You drive over and take care of it. Why would a bank use a company that can NOT just drive over a take care of problems?

Are you a morning person?

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:10:50 -0500

I am a morning person. By 9 am I have gotten done over half of what I will accomplish in the day. That is when I am most efficient. I build my day around the fact that I am a morning person. I do the hardest things in the morning. I do the easiest things in the afternoon. If you plan your day around your strengths you can get more done in a day.

If you fall asleep after lunch, do not schedule an important meeting after lunch. If you are not human until you have had 3 cups of coffee, do not schedule important stuff for the mornings. Study yourself, figure out when you are most productive and just do it.

I just set a new record.

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 07:37:21 -0500

I just received 3 BPOs on the same street, 9130, 9175 and 9315. This is an established neighborhood, not a new home development. It definitely cuts down on the driving time. Oh, the things we do to entertain our self while we do BPOs. Can anybody out there beat my record?

Warning: Taking this BPO might be hazardous to your rating.

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:08:59 -0500

I finished a BPO today. It is for a rural area near here. It is within the city limits but is 50 miles away from where I live. In the area, there are 20 properties currently listed for sale. There has been 1 sale in 2009. There was 1 sale in 2008. There were 5 sales in 2007. My comps were 15 miles away and more than 6 months old. I explained everything in the comments and expect it to pass quality control.

The problem is the computer rates you. The computer cannot read the comments, it reads numbers. I exceeded the limits. I will get a low rating on this BPO. In my area, there are 9-10 agents working for this company. We all do good jobs and have good ratings. By accepting this BPO, I lowered my rating. I will get fewer BPOs in the future from this company. Should I have accepted this BPO?

Shooting yourself in the foot.

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:31:35 -0500

I was recently assigned an interior BPO. I called the homeowner to make an appointment. She told me it was a loan modification. We agreed to meet at 4:30. About 3:00 I received a phone call from her lender. She was not comfortable having someone come into her house and take pictures. The appointment was canceled. I emailed the story and said that access was denied.

Somewhere, there is an assistant with 5,000 loan modifications on his desk. His job is to make sure that each package is complete. If it is, he forwards it to his boss, who reviews it. For this one, he will see the missing BPO. He will send an email asking "What is the status of the BPO?" and put the package at the bottom of the stack. Sometime next week or when someone asks about it, it will work its way back to the top of the stack. He will note the missing BPO and send another email.

Different BPO forms

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 15:00:58 -0500

Different BPO companies use different forms with different fields on them. Sometimes 1 company has multiple forms. Did you ever notice that they always give you the wrong form for the property? One company has a form with questions about a guest house. I have always answered no guest house. I finally get a BPO with a guest house. Guess what, they used a different form that did not ask about a guest house. You know a lot about a property or the area that it is in. You could write a book about it. You get the form that allows 128 positions for comments.

Different BPO forms

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:57:34 -0500

BPO telephone calls

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:15:05 -0500

I have 6 bpos due today. I will get them in on time. I have 4 bpos due tomorrow. I will get them in on time. I have never been late without contacting the company and explaining the problem. Why then do I get 5-10 phone calls a day asking me if my BPOs will be in on time? I really do not need more distractions in my day.

Just sell 1 home

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:08:34 -0500

I got another of my favorite email ads today. It was for something. It sounded interesting. But they ended the ad with "It only costs $500. If you get just 1 sale from this product, it will pay for itself many times over." To me that is a big sign not to buy whatever they are selling. When I was a new agent, I purchased a few of these. It has been many years. I am still waiting for my 1 sale.

Banks doing what is best for them.

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 12:19:55 -0500

I have seen several blogs where a real estate agent describes a deal that the bank turned down. Some seem outrageous. Basically for the bank, it is simple economics. If I do a loan modification, I get A dollars. If I do a short sale, I get B dollars. If I foreclose, I get C dollars. The government is contributing money to the various options and guaranteeing some/part of the loans. Mortgage insurance is another factor. The investor is making the decision based on the total dollar amounts from the various options. Whichever one is greater, A, B, or C will be the investors choice.

REOs and Credit Scores

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:51:37 -0500

I recently changed insurance companies. As part of the process they ran my credit score. It came back lower than I expected. In the notes section it said that I had applied for too many credit accounts recently. This surprised me since I have not applied for any new credit in a long time. Then it came to me. Every REO gas, electric, water, trash company is a new credit account. Every listing has been 3-4 new credit accounts.

BPOs and the 5 Star Conference

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 12:44:03 -0500

I went to the "Advanced BPO" class at the 5 star conference. These are some random notes.

1. Get your BPOs in on time. I have a BPO that was due yesterday (Saturday). There is a problem. I called and emailed. Oops, the company closed 4pm Friday for the weekend. There is nobody there to solve the problem.

2. One panelist said that 45% of his BPOs get rejected by QC. For his company, it is a race to get the bpos. Maybe speed does not equal quality.

3. One panelist described this scenerio. The subject is a 2000 sq ft lakeview property. He would prefer a 1400 sq ft comp with a lakeview to a 2000 sq ft comp without a lakeview. After the class, I talked to him. I agreed that it would be a better comp. I also told him that it would be rejected by his own company. To his credit, he wrote a note to check on it.

4. At another class, someone asked about the occupied or vacant box on drive by BPO forms. She wanted an unknown option. The lecturer asked why she did not just knock on the door to determine occupancy. On drive by BPOs you are suppose to have no contact with the occupant.

5. Every class I went to the lecturer said that comments were very important and they wished there was more space for comments. I went to 5 Star 2 years ago and heard the same thing. I guess 2 years is not enough time to make a change to a form.

Check your ratings.

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:30:52 -0500

Wells Fargo now allows you to see your ratings and how they rate you. I found 3 mistakes on my rating. I sent them an email about the mistakes, asking them to correct them. You should check your ratings and correct any mistakes. The higher you are rated, the more likely you are to get more listings.

How broke do you have to be?

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 23:30:53 -0500

You or your spouse get laid off. It has been a few months and you have not found a job. You have enough savings to last a year. Do you start a short sale now or wait until you have used up your savings? Does the time it takes to do a short sale influence your decision? Do you take money out of your retirement plan? Do you take money out of your childrens college fund? Is it OK to do a short sale and still have some money left to start your new life?

Coming soon

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:29:23 -0500

Our board has stated that it is ok to put a sign and lockbox on a property before it is listed if the seller approves it. We always put 2 lockboxes, one from our mls, and a workers lockbox. Our real estate office has a weekly email that it sends out to all of our agents. We have a coming soon section where we put in properties that are assigned to us but not listed yet.

Why is nothing happening with this group?

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 11:33:50 -0500

I do REOs and BPOs. I check this blog and the main thing I see are questions from people about how to get into the REO and BPO business. I see very little from people who are actually do REOs and BPOs. Why is there very little discussion about better way to do things? Is it because you are too busy to blog? Is it because you think it is in your own best interest not to blog? Or is it something else?

I will start with this. The first time I go to a property I take the mls input form with me. I fill it out at the property including the comments. I also always take a camera. I take pictures of everything. Every time I visit the property, I take the camera and update the pictures.

Do you ever read the comments after you write them?

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 13:04:35 -0500

I just saw this in the comments section of a property.

"No financing available. Cash only. Purchase this property for as little as 3% down. This property is approved for Special bank owner mortgage and Renovation Mortgage financing."

What is measured is important?

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 08:18:43 -0500

2 REO agents both get an assignment to do a sales clean on their properties. Agent A has a cleaning crew for two hours. They do an average job. After the job is done, the cleaning crew takes pictures of the property, email the pictures and the bill to the agent. The agent uploads the pictures and the bill the same day.

Agent B has a cleaning crew for 4 hours. They do a very good job. Next day after the job is done, the agent inspects and has them redo minor things. The agent takes the pictures and uploads the pictures and the bill.

Agent As house is average. Agent Bs house is very good. Agent A is rated higher by the REO company. What is measured is important. Agent A uploaded the pictures and bill faster than agent B. Agent A team spent 2 hours, Agent B team spent 4 hours. Agent A bill is for less money. They cannot measure which house is cleaner. They cannot measure which house will sell faster and for more money and relate it to the cleaning bill.

Unprofitable homes - Do you take all REO listings?

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:18:03 -0500

Do you take all REO listings? That is what I have done and I think it is hurting my business. My recently closed on a condo for $45,000. 2% commission. My broker took his share and my partner and I split the rest. This condo needed painting, new carpet, etc. We haven't been reimbursed for our expenses yet, over $4,000. This company uses a title company from the other side of the state and doesn't know local rules, extra work for us. I estimate we have 40-50 hours of work on this deal.

I have 2 more of these in escrow and company just assigned us a new one. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Good suggestion for quality control.

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 16:24:47 -0600

I was complaining to my partner about a BPO I was working on. It is in a rural area with few sales and even fewer comps. Should I use the property that was on the market for 976 days or the property which had more than twice as many acres or the property that was built last year? Should told me that the last time she did a BPO in that area, quality control rejected some of her comps. She gave them different comps. They rejected it again. She then printed a spreadsheet from the mls of everything in a 15 mile radius and told them to pick which comps she should use.

Bracketing

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:46:25 -0600

I am very frustrated with BPO companies that use bracketing. I just finished a BPO with a company that requires you to bracket your price with the SOLD comps. This is a nothing special house, 1000 sq ft ranch style. The neighborhood is full of similar houses. There have been very few sales. The lowest sale was at $150,000. There are 6 listings in the $130,000s and the $140,000s. QC would not accept a price below $150,000. Why would they want a price at which the house will not sell?

Doing BPO valuations.

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 19:01:22 -0500

Before I started doing BPOS, I had the time to visit new home developments. I remember going to one which had a nice 1600 sq ft home for about $200,000. Across the street was another new home development. It was much nicer. There was no comparison in the quality of the homes. They had a 1600 sq ft home for about $250,000.

Now I'm doing lots of BPOs. These 2 homes are the same sq footage, they are across the street from each other, they were built in the same year, therefore they are the same. Is there something wrong here?

How many REO listings are enough?

Matt Kofsky (Transaction Realty) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:14:42 -0500

I am curious as to what people feel is enough REO listings. I know people who have 50 listings and they are going crazy. I have a partner and between us we handle 20-25 listings comfortably. Yes, there are days when we both work from 6 am to 9 pm. But we have even taken days off. We are not interested in hiring people and growing a business.

What I would like to know is how many REO listings feel comfortable to you? How many people are part of your team? Are you trying to grow your business? If you are trying to grow the business, what are you plans?