Recently I've read several articles & blogs on the topic of BPOs & the problems they are having on our markets, due to inaccuracy, conflict of interest, lack of training, lack of experience, lack of accountability, etc.
Why is this the case? And what can be done to solve the problem. When short sale deals are forced to foreclosure because a BPO comes in way too high more than just that home owner suffers. The listing agent who was working hard to save the owners from foreclosure, the home owner, even the neighborhood from another bank owned vacant home, etc. This is happening way too often all over the country.
Some have proposed to have appraisers take over, as they are trained and experienced in valuation & their estimates are typically more reliable. They have, or should have no conflict of interest as independent appraisers, they have plenty of training & experience (1 1/2 yrs full time just to get lic), they have accontability & many standards they have to adhere to. This is one idea that has merit.
But another idea has come out that promotes the idea of real estate agents having a separate certification or even license that would allow them in some circumstances to do BPOs for a fee. There would be training required, a certain amount of experience required, specific requirements to adhere to & continuing education required in valuation topics. I suppose that some BPO agents would not want to go through all this & maybe green agents trying to make some fast money would not like it either, but that is one of the problems. One state has issued a ruling that says, only brokers can do BPOs. A number of other sates have limitations placed on BPOs for similar reasons, all based in the idea that something is badly needed in this segment of the industry.
If we could reduce the amount of un needed foreclosures, we could be helping people recover from this economic disaster faster, & that would significantly help our country. So if we could have BPO regulation in place to make BPOs more accurate, it would be a good thing even if we had to do some training etc. If there were more requirements to be BPO lic. I suppose there would be fewer agents available to do BPOs, & maybe the fees would increase. Hey, that would be good, what if you could get $75 or $100 for a BPO instead of $50 or less? That would help make the training worth it.
What do you think? I've heard & read the hundreds of complaints about what is wrong with BPOs, so lets see if we can let our leaders know we want change. Oh, that sounds bad, lets say we want improvement.
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