I wanted to do something that I wish I had found when I was looking for information about getting into the REO business. I'm going to chronicle my journey of becoming a Las Vegas REO agent.
Ok to begin with about a year ago, I got started really looking hard at how to get my foot in the door of the Las Vegas REO world. About a year and a half ago myself and one of my business associates were introduced to a website that was a pay site that had some REO training, certification program and most importantly, a list of over 100 REO/BPO websites with links to their sign up pages to begin the arduous task of getting signed up to do BPO valuations and list REO properties. My business associate got right on top of getting signed up for the different companies. I, of course, took about six months to get on top of getting signed up for the sites. So, I got on top of it and started to do some opinions of price for a handful of companies. I had to work hard to do a good job on both the price opinions and turn times and also to continue to prospect for new business from different companies. The numbers of BPO's performed per month started to pick up towards the end of 2007 and really started hitting in January of 2008. Since then, I've consistently performed over 100 BPO's per month and continued to add more accounts. That continues on till this very day. I found that once people saw me doing it, they wanted to know how to get into it. With the high number of agents getting out of the business, there's a huge pool of agents that's looking for a way to stay connected to the business. To do good BPO's, you really have to understand the local market and one has to question how well the average agent that's forced to leave the business really understands the market. I also found out that after most agents get signed up and do a handful of BPO's and get a couple hundred dollars, they figure out that it's not for them and think it's a waste of time. If you're just in it for the money, you will burn out. I learned that BPO's aren't just something to do for a quick buck like many think. You can really hurt a REO listing agent, or a bank that looking to make non-performing acquisitions, by giving a bad opinion of price on your BPO.
Bryan Knight in Las Vegas, NV
Follow me at www.twitter.com/KnightREO
Go to Part 2 
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Thanks, Bryan, I have just started to do BPO's this year for a few companies.
We met at a Realtor 30 hr credit class last year in May - I remember you, you were always on the phone to clients at every break!