I was talking with a person whom I do alot of short-sales with who said that some bpo agents who also get REO's are purposely overvaluing the BPO's on short-sales so that it won't go through knowing that when it goes to foreclosure that they have a chance of getting the property at REO. I asked her some more questions regarding this, and she said that alot of these agents do BPO's for the same companies that they get the REO's from. If this is true, I really think it is a crummy thing to do to people. It just shows the integrity that some agents show out there in the field. I usually don't blog much but just something I had to vent about. Have any of my Fellow agents heard stories about this or had alot of trouble with their BPO's? Thanks for your input.
Ned - I've heard of this kind of activity. But when you think about it the agents doing this will be busted before very long. These lean holders watch how closely the bpo's come to the eventual selling price. Over time the bad guys will be caught.
I have successfully had a BPO value overturned by showing the RIGHT comps. Certianly there are agents who are working both sides of the system but what is the point. There are no guarentees if you do the BPO you will then end up with the REO listing. The system is broken in many ways so I would take the "alot" of short sale agents and figure that the % is actually quite low. Think about it. How do you do a high BPO and then suggest a lower REO price and not look incompetent?
First off, It is easy to show a high BPO and low REO price. They are usually 2 different departments at the bank. SO, the Short-Sale department would have no idea what the REO price would be usually. As for the guarantee, alot of companies do have agents who do both the BPO's and the REO's so there is a possibility that the agent still might get the listing.
Ned, I have not heard anyone mention that but in some case it would not surprise me.
Wouldn't that be something? If true. I find it hard to believe with all that is coming down the pike that a BPO agent would care. I do about thirty BPOs a month and never get listings no matter what price I come up with. That being said at least here we can't keep u with the foreclosures.
It happens all the time...actually happened to me 3 times last week and the evidence was shown when all 3 properties received counter offers this week..
I looked up all 3 BPO agents and sure enough they were all big time REO agents..and ironically a lot of the properties they sold were previous "would be" short sales...
Ned,
I agree with Corinne. I do a lot of BPO's in the Madison and Janesville Wisconsin area. These BPO companies are extremely picky on which comparable properties can be used. The BPO price needs to be adjusted downwards if superior comparables are chosen. This applies to gross living area, number of rooms or garage space, and neighborhood/location.
It would be very hard to try and inflate a BPO price.
On a side note, it's becoming much more rare for a asset manager to give a listing to an agent that has previously performed a BPO on a property.
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