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Why do banks use out of the area agents?

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?

Posted by Matt Kofsky on 10/14/2009 04:26 PM

Comments (17)

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17 Comments on Why do banks use out of the area agents?

OCT

It's ridiculous. I was at a local event where an area title company spoke on their efforts to establish relationships with asset managers so the REO business stays local. The room applauded. :)

Add it to the litany of complaints about REO's in general. They are getting to be almost ludicrous. The other problem is that the asset manager is never going to hear about all the problems. When the 'seller' is just as clueless as the agent that's 8 hours away, nothing is ever going to get fixed.

Banks are not being serviced well by many (not all) REO agents. I don't understand why lenders don't divide the inventory up among seasoned agents who work close to the properties and limit the number of listings any one agent can have. We had agents in our area when the foreclosure with hundreds of listings at one time.

OCT

It's very frustrating. It would make more sense to have someone who is familiar with the area to get the listing. I dont think it will get any better. Just my opinion.

It is now 24 hours later. There is still no lockbox on the property.

Matt,

For the last 2 weeks a BPO company has been asking me to do a BPO on a property that is not in my area of coverage. Plus they sat it is a rush. They keep emailing and calling me asking what would it take for me to accept. I told them in the beginning the reason I will not accept. Just my luck some asset manger assigns it to me. The property is located in a rural community, where the agents there are very protective of there stuff. So if I did accept, I would not be able to find comps. NO Thank you!

OCT

Matt & other fellow agents, it is not the distance it is the agent. The agent knows the location of the property before taking the listing. The duties do not diminish proportional to the distance. I have listed and sold hundres of REOs 100, 200 and 300 miles away. Any agent who takes listings of great distances is committing to travel or hire someone locally and make sure it is done. I suggest you not key on the distance key on the agent. You might not take a listing because you do not want to spend the time and effort the distance might require. That is fine and I commend you for your choice of avoiding the listing rather than either spending the time needed or not doing your duties. But that does not mean another agent cannot get the job done because of the distance.

Bill Queen

It is now 48 hours later. There is still no confirmation that the lockbox is on the property.

Bill,

Many areas are rural and going extended distances is normal. But this home is in the city. The agent has never seen the home. No one from his office has seen the home. The bank subcontracts to the asset company. They subcontract to the agent. He subcontracts to a local company. They subcontract to different individuals to handle problems. There are too many layers. If something goes wrong, who is responsible? If someone has a question, who do they ask? You should call one of these agents and ask a question. You will see how bad it is.

I have seen so many properties sold at ridiculous prices because the agent did not know the area. When this tract was built a 1600 sq ft house sold for $250,000. The tract across the street sold a 1600 sq ft home for $200,000 - much less quality. The remote agent has no clue. He knows the sq ft is the same, the age is the same, the area is the same. He thinks it is great that the house sold the first week. He just cost the bank $50,000.

Is it any wonder the banks are losing billions of dollars? Talk about incompetence.

It is now 5 pm on Friday, still no lockbox.

It's pathetic how some of these things take place. I had an Asset Mgr ask if I would take a listing that was 300 miles from me. I turned it down but found him a good agent in the area.

OCT

72 hours, Saturday morning. Called and got voice mail. I think their office is closed for the weekend.

OCT

Matt

It happens to us all the time when we try to do appraisals.

Sunday, 4 days later, they call me and tell me that the lockbox is on the property. They give me the combination. I drive over there. Hooray, there is a lockbox on the door. Boo, the combination does not work. I try other combinations that I know and one does work.

OCT

The reason I started this blog was to show that distance causes problems. We all make mistakes. I have forgotten to put a lockbox on a property. The difference is that this mistake is a 2 hour fix if there is a local agent and a 4 day fix with a remote agent. Local works, distance does not.

NOV

Good question - even now. I find that they also use REO listing agents from out of the 50 mile radius, same as with the BPO. I think its not what you know.... but who you know!

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