Hi all,
SO we are all BPO Champions here, I am sure!!! In a month, we do between 50-100 and it can sometimes be a little stressful. Well, I decided I wanted to get into selling REO's, so I decided to attend a REOMAC conference. I went and learned very little, but the few contacts I picked up were really worth it in the end. Mostly though, it was hard core networking and lots of mojitos with asset managers and other Realtors.
It did not immediately break, but slowly I started getting one BPO here and one BPO there. Maybe 3 a month if I was lucky. Then after attending REOMAC I bought a program that gives you all the sites to go to, to sign up to perform BPO's. I signed up for over 200 separate companies, and had to ice my wrist afterwards. It took me a full week to do this. Fortunately half way through I found www.roboform.com and it pre-loads your info on every sign up page. This cut me down from 2 weeks!
Well, after all this work I thought that I should start getting listings. NOPE. I had previously worked with Freddie Mac with another real estate company, but after you leave your company Freddie waves goodbye and takes their leave. I had the experience, and still was not seeing listings. My BPO's started picking up after 3 months and slowly I was doing 20 a month, then 50, and upwards of 75-100 a month on a rally busy month. I hired someone to help with the photos and driving, and I also bought a Scion XB 2008 to help with gas. That baby gets 32-35 miles to the gallon, and more if you hypermile. (Google it). The money from BPO's trickled in, and I wondered to myself WHEN was I going to get some listings here.
The moral of this story is that you just have to be PATIENT! After interior and exterior BPO's for Wells Fargo for over 7 months...finally one popped up on my site. I clicked on it thinking it was a BPO and was getting pissed because it was not working the way they usually did. I figured Wells needed to check their website for bugs. I looked down and it said ACCEPT LISTING. I said UM, YEAH! Within 3 days of this listing and after 8 months of BPOing my tailpipe off, I got a phone call in the middle of the afternoon and one of those random sites that I signed up for half a year ago wanted me to LIST a property for them. I almost screamed in that poor woman's ear. I was so excited and ready to SELL!
Fortunately my first experience with that company was good. I listed the house and it went under contract in 6 days! It closed 2.5 weeks later and that was sweet cash in my pocket. Just in time for my yearly vacation (yes, I took it in the summer which amazed even me). The asset manager was terrific (Hi Zoe!) and told me that my score card with the company was going to look good with this company due to my fast sale. I was excited and then...NOTHING.
Here I am thinking I am the REO Master of the Universe, and nothing for two months. AND THEN...randomly I got a call from an asset manager and he was very firm over the phone. He asked if I could meet all the timeframes perfectly, because a lot of agents were coming in late on occupance checks, etc. I said I would be happy to work for him in his time frame. His words were, YOU BETTER or I will pull it! The next day I got that listing and in the past 3 days I have gotten 4 properties from that company alone! Patience and HARD work pays off.
I am still working my way there, but I currently have 6 REO listings and they don't seem to be slowing down. I would eventually like to hire on another agent strictly to help me with BPO's and REO's.
So if you are frustrated because you feel like you are getting no where with the BPO's...just HOLD On and keep working hard. Do a good job. Be SUPER descriptive and be HONEST. Don't tell them what you think they want to hear...tell them the truth as YOU see it! Stick to it. Good luck :)
Here is the St. Thomas/St. John Vacation I took from my first REO Listing! Isn't my hubby the cutest???
www.360realtygreensboro.com
Real Estate HORROR STORIES...
