To BPO or not to BPO , that is the question!!

Something you can do is hire someone to do the pics for you. If you advertise on Craigs List you'll get hundreds of people willing to do them for a flat $10 per house whether it's inside or outside.

Just train them to do it right. That will save you a lot of time.

Remember most BPO companies that pay you are mills, and just need the reports and aren't going to assign listings. I do a lot of BPOs, but I treat it like a second job. I do them after business hours and on the weekends. You're right!, those checks do come in handy to help pay the monthly bills.

If you want the REO listings, you have to sign up with asset companies that handle bank owned properties. Remember they won't pay you for the BPOs you do for the assets you are assigned.

I"m curious...how many BPOs are you doing in a month?

Hi Amy,

The ones that you did, the six, that were more trouble than they were worth....  What if you had 25 or 35 of those listings?   This type of business can easily take over your whole business.  Then would it be worth it?  Re-keying, hold overs, water in basement, mold, trash out companies, bug infestations, asset companies, evictions, getting all the required bids, carpet missing, pictures, paperwork, squatters, uploading data, and yes the asset manager wants the house in the MLS today.  You will not have time to do any other type of business. -- I see this from an agent in my company.  Sometimes, I think it is be careful what you ask for. 

You have to pick and choose which companies offer listings and which just complete bpos with no chance ever of a listing because all they do is complete bpos. I have so many requests to complete them that i have to choose the ones that are giving me listings first and if i have time can fill in my day by accepting bpos from the bpo mills. Completing bpos is an art, a science and requires great knowledge of the neighborhoods you are completing them in as well as patience and quickness to make it worth while.

Bill although i love your idea to have others take the pictures for a fee, i could double my production, however it defeats the bpo's purpose of having the agent who completes it, view the property to include honest answers and comments about the properties condition an untrained eye may not notice if just taking a picture for a quick 10 bucks and on to the next house to take a picture.

When there are so many potential listings on the line to receive, its not worth the risk for me.

Hi Amy, I do some BPO's in California, but I am very 'picky' about doing them and many times ask for more money than is offered.

100 a month is a lot. I think my record is around 50. I just did 40+ in July. But I live in a rural area, and we are sparsely populated. We also don't have the cookie cutter subdivisions, and I have to comment a lot on the comps I've chosen. That is a lot of extra work. I also seem to get quite a few over the weekend. I think they want the reports there waiting for them on Monday morning. Sometimes I can negioate with them for a Sunday or Monday AM due time. That helps me out a lot.

I will say that the REO business has worked for me this year. That's what is selling in our market. It's a lot of work, but I know it won't last forever...at least not at this pace, so I'm going to ride it out. At the same time, I'm also trying to build my fair market business. Yes I'm busy, but when the market finally rights itself, I'll still be here. I got my license 3 years ago...just as the market took a dive and never recovered. So it's been difficult. That's how I started doing BPOs. It helps to pay the desk fees and bills. Then I made a science out of doing the BPOs. Now I have the REO listings.

Good morning, Amy.  My suggestion is to pick & choose who, where and when you want to do BPO's AND ask for more money.  Good luck. 

Mary

I know that a lot of agents in our market are now trying to do the BPOs...when in the past, they swore they wouldn't do that kind of work. I've seen the price of the BPO fall because if I won't do it for what they want, they will move on to the next person on their list. You're right...I'm seeing it first hand. What I get paid for a trip fee has also gone down.