Subtitle: The perils of trespassing in the back woods in North Idaho!
A Broker Price Opinion is an opinion of property value. Several years ago, when I returned to north Idaho, I began doing BPO's as a way to bring in a little income while I reestablished my real estate business.
When the number of homes being offered as short sales began climbing, so did the requests by loss mitigation departments of the mortgage lenders for BPO's. Not quite as sophisticated as an appraisal, it is a real estate broker's opinion of value for a property. Some of the factors that I consider when formulating my opinion of value are the surrounding properties, sales trends in the neighborhood, property condition and repairs needed. The property is compared to similar properties that have recently sold, as well as those that are currently for sale.
One of the tasks is to take pictures of the property. Some orders are for interior BPO's, others are for drive-by BPO's.
Last week, in a round about way, I ended up with a request from a nice Accounts Control Officer at a credit union to do a couple of drive-by BPO's. I was intrigued at the opportunity to work with an individual rather than with a hug
e go-between servicer in an automated system. You just never know where a relationship like that might end up. So I accepted the assignment and knocked out the first one last week. It was in a nice subdivision in Coeur d'Alene. There were three good sold comparables within just a few blocks. I had actually shown each of them while they were on the market. That BPO was a slam dunk!
I set out today to the hinterlands to photograph the second house. I found the mailbox, but finding the house was more of a challenge. These properties on timbered acreages sat far back from the road. I wasn't even sure which muddy dirt road driveway belonged to my house. One of the general instructions with a drive-by is to not approach the homeowners. There I was in the boonies faced with a bit of a conundrum.
My best guess as to which deep-woods driveway belonged to my house made me take a closer look at one that had no tire tracks through the ice-crusted snow. I could see a sliver of the house around a bend behind a stand of pine trees, and it looked like a probable match to the photo from the assessors office. 
However, I couldn't see enough of the house to know for sure. Since it was obvious that no one had come in or out that drive to the property for at least a few weeks, I figured it was vacant and decided to venture down the drive on foot to scope it out.
Sure enough, when I rounded the trees I could see that it definitely was The House. And good golly Miss Molly, there was stuff EVERYWHERE! Sanford and Sons meets Deliverance. I was amazed at what unfolded before me. All manner of vehicle, machinery and equipment, junk and debris. A couple of dilapidated sheds with more stuff spilling out. I wandered around and started snapping photos. I was intrigued at all the stuff, wondering how it all happened to be there, and why it was all still there. I went around the side of the house and saw a pair of old snow mobiles sitting side by side in the mud, rusting. I was intrigued at what the story could be of this house.
I rounded the back of the house and almost had a heart attack! There was another muddy road driveway that lead to the property from the main road. And sitting there by the back door at the end of some fresh tracks in the mud was a pick-up truck. Somebody was home! And here I was, trespassing walking around on his secluded acreage in the woods with a camera, taking pictures of his stuff! I literally almost fainted!
When I regained my wits I tried to formulate an escape plan. I half expected the door to burst open and a hound dog to chase me down while shotgun blasts pierced the backwoods silence. I'm pretty sure know for sure I would not be able to out run a hound dog on my arthritic knees! I would have to walk past the house and down one or the other of those muddy/icy/snowy drives to get back to my car. I was thinking fast and my heart was pounding faster than it ever has after a session in the gym with Killer Cate.
I tried to make my camera as unnoticeable as possible under my jacket, and decided just to walk purposefully towards the road. As if it was the most normal thing for me to be walking past that house in the woods. And if Billy Bob, or whoever, came bursting out the door, I would just smile and say hello, and keep walking purposefully towards the road.
I must be living right or something, because no hound dog or irate redneck came bursting out the door. I 
hopped in my car and purposefully drove back to my office. As I drove I reminded myself of all the reasons I stopped doing BPO's a year or so ago.
I am now more determined than ever not to do them, with the exception being for this nice Account Control Officer. When he needs one, I'm in. I'm not sure why I am making an exception for him, except that I like him. He's nice, and normal, cracks some jokes in his emails, and is trying to do a good job for the members of his credit union. Let's just hope he doesn't need one done too often!
I remembered a post I wrote a couple years ago about a BPO altercation that made the headlines. Click here to read all about it!
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