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Clarification Requests From Clear Capital

I have been performing BPOs for Clear Capital for about six months or so and I recently encountered my first negative experience with them. At the beginning of this month, I received a Drive-by BPO request which was due in 2 days. Visual inspection of the exterior of the property indicated that the building was a 3 family dwelling and the county tax records confirmed that. The records also indicated that the dwelling consisted of over 7,000 square feet.

I completed the BPO and submitted it on time. Within a few hours after it was submitted, I received a clarification request from Clear Capital for the BPO. Apparently, another Realtor conducted a BPO for the same property but reported the subject property to be a townhouse consisting of 1300 square feet.

Clear Capital instructed me to verify that I went to the right address, that I am stating an opinion on the right property and to be sure I uploaded pictures of the right property. I did more than that, I contacted the assessor's office and had a printout of the subject property faxed to me. I then faxed the same to Clear Capital.

The BPO was then accepted by the Q&A team. This however did take me back a bit. I went the extra mile and I was not offered any additional compensation for my efforts. I also wonder what instructions did Clear Capital give or what was said to the other agent.

Posted by DDR Realty, Orange County NY on 08/17/2007 04:29 AM

Comments (18)

bpo, clear captial

18 Comments on Clarification Requests From Clear Capital

AUG

2007

Nice work, going the extra mile. It will pay off in the end.

I work with that company and sometime run into the clarification request issue also. Glad to know that I'm no the only one :)

Sometimes you have to step back and consider, "Is it really worth the effort?"

Clear Capital is a BPO mill in my opinion, and expects you to do a lot and pay you less... just like most BPO vendors.

As long as you know you've done your job correctly and did everything to prove it, you are fine.

Derrick I can tell you are the type of person who goes the extra mile. It would be interesting to find out what was said to the other agent.

JUN

2008

BPO mill to say the least. They pimp out agents for pennies on the dollar for what they are getting pad for the completed BPO. There is something fishy about this outfit. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about their corporate culture is catty. Watch out.

JUN

2008

Dang I just finished my first BPO with Clear Capital and omg it is almost a full appraisal.. does any one know another BPO company that doesn't ask for so much and pay so little?

AUG

2008

Pedro...I'm in the same boat as you. I just finished my first with them and it is too much like a full blown appraisal. I'll have to think twice before I accept another for this company. They pay the least compared to the other companies I service.

AUG

2008

Hey Pedro and Joanne, I'm doing a BPO with Clear Capital now and your right, it is like a full blown appraisal. They ask for 3 times more information than a normal BPO. If I knew they were going to be this PICKY I would has passed on the BPO. They're a good company but a BPO is a snap shot of comps in local area. This company keeps adding and adding questions to the forms. It's too time consuming for there BPO's and not worth the little money they pay.

AUG

2008

HAS ANYONE EVER GOTTEN A LISTING OFF OF THESE CLEAR CAPITAL BPO'S?

OCT

2008

Clear Capital is a BPO Mill. They receive between $100-$150 per BPO from their customer. Their QA department is expected to review about 100 BPOs a day. A BPO that you submit is only looked at for about 1 minute. Most of the QA department lacks a background in real estate.

JAN

just another example of Clear Capital having their heads up their ass!!!! Wells Fargo learned that a property we are doing a short sale for was vacant and changed the locks. Now, we do not have access, are told to contact Clear Capital and our BPO agent manuel for the keys, and we can not reach him (his voice mail has been full for 3 days).....generally not an issue.....

HOWEVER....we got a call from the condo association yesterday informing us a neighbor smells gas coming from the condo and that we have 24 hours to get someone in or the fire department is going to BREAK DOWN THE DOOR!!!

HA...I say go for it!!! The lender, Wells Fargo will be responsible for payment and get what they deserve for being so STUPID ABOUT DEALING WITH SHORT SALES!!!!

JAN

O HELL!!!!! I just signed up with Clear Capital, I wonder what I'm in for!

MAY

I have been doing BPOs for over fifteen years and have ran into the same idiosyncrasies with every company I do BPOs for, It seams to be the nature of the business.

Some forms are too long and drawn out as if you where doing a full blown appraisal

Some programs for quality control can drive you crazy.

Some times comparables do not fit the request and can make life miserable trying to explain your substitutes.

The most frustrating to me is paying your dues only to never get a chance to market any of the properties you have done a BPO on now that the asset management companies have distanced them selves from the Lenders.

JUL

How often do BPO agents get jobs from clear capital? anybody...

That depends on the area you live in and how many zip codes you want to cover. The more zip codes you cover you will probably get more emails for a BPO. With Clear Capital it is first person who responds to email to accept BPO is who will get the job. I live in a rural area, so I do not get as many as a metropolitan area. Hope this helps.

AUG

I started a BPO for Clear Capital after having done one a year ago. It looked like a full-blown appraisal with every single line requiring an adjustement to the subject; both on the comparables For Sale and the Sold comps. I did some reasonable adjustements for repairs, took many photos, and had really good comparables. I adjusted for condition,etc. but did not fill in all of the little check boxes. They rejected the BPO and requested 159 more items be completed. This is for an $80 Interior BPO!

I thanked them, declined to complete the BPO after having already spend close to 5 hours on it, and asked them to remove me from the list.

These BPOs are unofficial appraisals and I just decided not to play anymore.

Having done short sales for more than 4 years, SHOCKER.....Clear Capital taking advantage of BPO persons. LOTS of reasons they need details, always depends on who the investor is on the loan. My 2 cents, if you need the extra cash, keep doing the BPO's. If not, ramp up for clients and sell some houses. Ask yourself: How many BPO's do I need to do to average just one sales commission.....

Sincerely, Ben Benita,

Professional short sale negotiator and owner, www.United-IG.com, the leading short sale and loan modification company.

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