So, BPO scorecards were sent out last week . . and I am positive more than a handful of agents have seen a decrease in their overall scorecard. Normally, it is in fact the agent's fault; however, this last quarter seemed to have been notorious for bogus QC correction requirements. The requested corrections really make me wonder if those performing the QC have any idea what they are even doing. I mean, the engagement letter clearly states to follow BPOSG guidelines, but when they send you corrections, they request anything but.

Here are just a few of the crazy corrections I've been asked to make this quarter . . Along with my response. (I feel as if I am training them on how to perform their own job).

Has anyone else been having issues with QC/Corrections lately?

Example 1:

“It appears an adjustment was not made for Total room for Comp 3 Listing 1,3 even though it differs from the subject property. Per your engagement letter please provide commentary stating why an adjustment was not necessary.”

(My Response)

If you adjust per individual room, you cannot again adjust for the total number of rooms as this would be a double adjustment. Example:

  • Subject has 3 beds and 1 bath (7 total rooms due to living, dining and kitchen)
    • Comp 1 has 4 beds and 1 bath (8 total rooms) No adj needs to be made because it falls within BPOSG guidelines
    • Comp 2 has 5 beds and 1 baths (9 total rooms) adjustment should be made for bedroom only
    • Comp 3 has 5 beds and 2 baths (10 total rooms) so, adj should be made for individual bedroom, but not for bath as the bath falls within the guidelines.
    • Comp 4 has 5 beds and 2 baths and a den (11 total rooms) adjustment is made for 1 bed and now an adjustment can be made for total room count

I hope you follow. If you were to adjust for 1 bedroom and then make another adjustment to the total, you are basically making 2 adjustments for the same room

Example 2:

We request that you address the below conditions as your report has not passed through our Quality Control review. Please make the requested corrections and resubmit your revised report within 4 business hours. 

  • Adjustment has to be made in Sq. ft above grade for sold comparable 1 & 2 and listed comparable 1, 2 & 3, since it does not fall within the guideline of +/- 100. Please revise and update.
  • Adjustment has to be made in the bedroom section for listed comparable 1, since it does not match the subject property. Please revise and update.
  • Adjustment has to be made in the full bath section for listed comparable 2, since it does not match the subject property. Please revise and update.
  • Adjustment has to be made in the garage section for sold comparable 1 and listed comparable 1, 2 & 3, since it does not match the subject property. Please revise and update.
  • In the Parking stall section, please update the parking stall count as 1 for the subject property and sold comparable 1 & 3.

(My Response)

Please find the attached BPOSG guidelines and verify the information I have provided you below. I feel as if the majority of the adjustments you have asked me to make were unnecessary as well as unjustifiable. 

  1. Adjustment has to be made in Sq. ft above grade for sold comparable 1 & 2 and listed comparable 1, 2 & 3, since it does not fall within the guideline of +/- 100. Please revise and update.
    • Per BPOSG Guidelines, if the subject property falls between 0-1000 SF, the comps should be within ß250SFà or +/- 25% which in this case is 222SF
      • Sold Comp 1 is 749SF. That is 139SF less than the subject. This falls within both BPOSG parameters.
      • Sold Comp 2 is 966SF. That is 78SF more than the subject. This falls within both BPOSG parameters.
      • List Comp 1 is 1043SF. That is 155SF more than the subject. This falls within both BPOSG parameters.
      • List Comp 2 is 1169SF. That is 281SF more than the subject. This is 30SF more than BPOSG Parameters and Adjustment will be made.
      • List Comp 3 is 1007SF. That is 119SF more than the subject. This falls within both BPOSG parameters.
  2. Adjustment has to be made in the bedroom section for listed comparable 1, since it does not match the subject property. Please revise and update.
    • Per BPOSG Guidelines, the # of bedrooms that may differ from the subject is +/- 1
      • List Comp 1 has only 1 more bedroom than the subject. This falls within BPOSG parameters.
      • Also, the tax record for the subject property did not reflect a definitive number of bedrooms. The bedroom count was calculated by using the square footage of the property and comparing the GLA to that of properties with similar square footage within the subjects immediate neighborhood.
  3. Adjustment has to be made in the full bath section for listed comparable 2, since it does not match the subject property. Please revise and update.
    • Per BPOSG Guidelines, the number of bathrooms that may differ from the subject is +/-1
      • List Comp 2 has only 1 more bathroom than the subject. This falls within BPOSG parameters.
  4. Adjustment has to be made in the garage section for sold comparable 1 and listed comparable 1, 2 & 3, since it does not match the subject property. Please revise and update.
    • I am at loss as to why you feel Sold Comp 1 should be adjusted. Judging by your instructions to adjust all three listed comps, I would think you meant Sold Comp 2. In any case, as stated in the comments,
    • In regards to List Comp 2 and List Comp 3, it seems as if it would make no difference if adjustments were made as the subject property’s carport is a detached carport that appears to be of little or no added value. The tax records do not even reflect the subject having a carport or parking garage. The “carport” seen during the interior inspection looked as if it has been constructed by an amateur who did not use quality materials. This is also a detached carport that, although is legally an appurtenance, hardly adds value to the property.
  5. In the Parking stall section, please update the parking stall count as 1 for the subject property and sold comparable 1 & 3.
    • None of the properties have “Parking Stalls”. A “Parking Stall” is a designated parking area, commonly within two painted lines. For example: When you go to a grocery store or shopping mall, the parking spaces are considered “parking stalls”. No changes need to be made.

QC final response: 

Hi, I do accept your justification for all the rejections that I have sent you. But for the Garage section please update the below mentioned comments in the comments section for the subject property.

 

Example 3:

Hello, I apologize.  When did you get this error message? We were seeing this error last week and on Monday.  It looks like the order is in a hold revision status. Can you see if you can correct what is needed and resubmit?

(My Response)

  • In regards to population density, a good example would be Dallas. The site automatically has urban when more than half of the areas in Dallas are actually suburban. This creates info problems and with the majority if not almost all of the comps not meeting what the site says, it seems to overwhelm the site and ends up freezing.
  • The engagement letter states to follow BPOSG guidelines, but the parameters on the website do not reflect BPOSG guidelines. So, when I attempt to submit a completed order, I have to provide an explanation for every single field before I can even submit the order. Lately, I have even been receiving corrections due to this as well.

I have no issues with providing explanations so long as my score is not affected. In regards to website functionality issues, that is beyond my control. Hopefully with the above info, the respective departments can take necessary actions to resolve the issues

If anyone else has been witnessing the same, please share! Sometimes I have to step back . . take a deep breath . . and just laugh at things like this ;)

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Replies

  • who is this company you are working with, I have been doing BPOs for 20+ years and never saw and of this nonsense, you adjust for GLA or room count not both or you can adjust for full vs. half bath etc

    • It is Solution Star. The new XOME qc they are using seem to be qc nazis. It is actually quite ridiculous. 

  • I've seen much worst over the years, I am sure you have too.  These could be from any of the BPO mills currently in operation, and yes, the quality of reviewers went down over the years.  Makes you wonder if these people have any idea about real estate, valuations or guidelines.  In the last few years, I stopped working with majority of BPO mills due to: fee reductions, unnecessary qc requests, user unfriendly forms, customer service from India…lol…etc   Constantly being available, taking pictures is crime ridden neighborhoods, checking computer for assignments and qc tasks with 1 or 4 hour deadlines, accepting crazy turn around times, worrying about score cards, receiving text messages about BPO assignments in all hours of day and night….. I am much happier and more relaxed now that I don’t work with BPOs.

    • Had a BPO assignment emailed to me at 4:19 am this morning for a property that was 60 miles away that paid $40. I jumped right on that, NOT!!!

  • I just had a huge batch of commercial BPOs come in this week. I get them all done and sent off and yesterday they were all sent back to me for the exact same revision:

    "Please state the type of business operating out of each comparable listing/sale."

    I'm not even sure how that's really relevant to the value of a property. A retail unit is a retail unit whether they are selling antiques or shoes. Also, the rent isn't dependent on what's being sold. I just found it odd... and it took me a few hours to dig back in to every comp for every report (Loopnet isn't exactly the easiest place to look up properties by address!). Fortunately, these valuations pay $150 a pop... so I'm a bit quicker to make nice.

    • I'm surprised that you guys are willing to do a commercial BPO for so cheap. Not too long ago I was getting $250 for an exterior drive-by and $450 to $500 for an interior evaluation. I stopped doing commercial BPOs when they started paying less than $250. With the cost of a CoStar/LoopNet account today, they have pretty much priced themselves out of the smaller commercial brokerage market. Luckily for me I'm with CB and my broker pays for LoopNet, but you still have to pay for the sold comps which can run you $34. 

    • I received a fair amount of commercials as well. Thankfully the majority were sales approach and not income approach. Income approach bpov's are a major p.i.t.a. Especially when they want a proforma as well. 

      I asked why they needed to know what type of business it was and they said it was to determine whether or not a listing would include inventory/equipment. I just responded "Since none are restaurants or auto related, my guess is that personal property is under separate financing/lease and will be retrieved.

      Also, for income approach, I always manage to have them increase the fee to a $200 minimum on an exterior ;)

  • I've had these same problems with some of the BPO companies. Green River Capital & BPOFulfillment were the worst. The GRC QC people were pulling rental and sold data off of Zillow that were 2 and 3 years old. I would get an email asking why I didn't use this comp or that comp, only to find out that the comps they were pulling were sold 2 or 3 years ago. It was wasted time going back into the mls searching the comps they were pulling as comps. It was so bad and frustrating that I came to the conclusion that they were hiring people right off the street who had no clue about real estate. One time I was so frustrated that I sent an email back to the person saying, "well since you know what comps to use, why aren't you doing this BPO?

    I just quit doing any work for them.

  • These are often reviewed by those $15 QA reviewers working at home.

    You get $30 doing it, she gets $15 comment you. So you are $15 ahead of QA....

    Why bother take these?

    • who does BPO's for $30., I get 100- 150 for further that 25 miles and 65-75 for around town

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