All of us trying to work in the REO field have to deal with BPOs. They're not particularly lucrative or fun, but they are definitely educational and absolutely necessary. Any agent in this field knows you are not going to become an REO agent if you don't do BPOs.This necessary task leads me to check our local offerings on Equator.com every morning, clicking away and trying to beat out every other hungry agent hoping to snag an assignment. When I do finally get one, off we go to take our pictures, scout our comps, and put together our presentation. By the time we're done, we spend at least 3 hours of our valuable time on each assignment.So I have to wonder, what strategies are you all employing to make this process smoother and more efficient? We have gotten signficantly better at BPOs since we started, largely through trial and error. When we submitted our first BPO and learned that "functional utility" meant "is there power and water service" and not "is there a utility room", we got better. When the quality assurance person told us that for differences in square footage, we should adjust by the difference between the square footages multiplied by half the price per square foot on the comp, we got better. So each BPO takes a little less time, and we get fewer (or no) error messages back. But how are our colleagues making their BPO-completing systems better? We would love to hear your strategies and share ours.
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  • Brooklyn, NY - BPO expert @ 917-667-2410/ rcasseus@yahoo.com

    I use various strategies. One is to have MLS/tax records/all useful data available to you at all times; on your phone, laptop, pad, etc. As soon as an order comes in, look up to see if data will be easy to gather. If it appears difficult, I reject BPO or request an increase in pay right away with a 48hr turn around time.

    I gather all list comps and sold comps and email them to myself.

    I download all pics and save them in a folder i create for the bpo order.

    I do this for every order I get; and when i get home at night, i complete all my orders before going to be.

    This leaves me time during the day to work on listings and with my buyers.

  • My trick: When I get the BPO I immediately check Sold comps in the MLS, if there are too little or none... I skip the BPO and turn it down. Also, because of costs and productivity, I narrow them down to zip codes close to me and no more than 15 miles away. Hey... the other guys need to practice doing BPOs too!
  • I have two HP 2009m monitors that each work independent of one another but connect to one powerful desktop computer, then use multiple internet tabs to access information needed to complete the bpos. I always check the County Appraiser's website to verify address before going out to take pictures. It saves time when the address provided is not accurate which happens once in a while. I like to have an idea of the location and what the property looks like before going out as well. Our Appraiser's website provides pictures of the homes and I'm thankful for this because I know this is not always the case. It takes me a while to complete one BPO but I keep my volume down by choice and work mainly with companies that assign me orders.
  • I love the feature on Windows 7, I can have two windows open side to side, that makes easier and I don't need two screens.
  • Kristine, what do you mean about setting up your MLS views for each company? In our MLS, we have a spreadsheet view we can customize. Do you mean to use something like that, and then set it up to show the info the BPO company wants on each property?
  • 2 computers is better than 2 screens. Also set up your mls views for each company then just tab through the form. Take the photos early in the morning, find comps after hours. Assessor data.com is a great resource when no info is available about the property and the company does not provide any. Set your camera resolution before you take the photos.
  • Time management is key, like Jose say. But in addition, I use multiple tabs on the browser, one for the BPO application, one for MLS, one for distances, etc. I find jumping between to tabs to be a breeze.
    For instance, I do a search within a mile radius on MLS for comps both sold and actives that match the characteristics 3 bd, 2.5 ba, with or without basement, +/- 10 yrs. Narrow them down to 3 sold and 3 actives whose sq ft is comparable. Have the addresses displayed on the MLS tab then it's a simple cut and paste of the addresses, #of bd/ba, year built, etc.
    This is one effective step in the process of filling out BPOs.
  • Two screens is a great idea. I am constantly switching back and forth between windows, or printing out the comps.
  • When noting the distance between subject property and comp, I use mapquest and type it in as if I'm driving to the property. I find it's quicker than using the distance through the MLS. Also if you have one computer with two screends, you can keep the BPO website open and on the screen while viewing data from your MLS on the other screen. Hope that helps.
  • Equator won't work with auto accept software, which means actual real live people are out there accepting their orders, which I prefer. I have wondered about the automation software, and I'd love to hear if anyone has used it. Something I read about one software made me think it would populate the standard fields that sometimes take a lot of time to fill in, like the beds/baths/square footage, etc., once you tell the software which comps you want to use. I don't see how a meaningful BPO could be too automated, but some of it is merely data entry that ends up taking more time than it should.
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