I'd like to say, WOW, I've been reading this forum's old posts for several days now and some of you are really impressive! I thought I was doing pretty well to do 10-15 BPOS a week and carry about 6-7 REO listings in inventory so I am in awe of those of you with figures way above that.

I am at the stage in my career after seven years where I have gone about as far as I want to go with retail RE and want to switch in the next few years completely to an REO practice. Problem is....my partner and I are supporting a large team doing conventional deals and bringing in a lot of money. It's hard to want to just ditch that but we both feel it's time.

My background before residential RE was in property management so I feel that REO is probably a better fit for me anyway than chasing buyers. I realize moving from a few REO listings to a large inventory is going to take tons of hard work, all new systems, developing contacts, etc. but I'm not scared of hard work.

Again, thanks for all the helpful information I've already found here and for the inspiring examples. I'm not sure how much exerptise I have to share compared to some of you, but what I do have and can share, I will.

One quick question which I hope isn't asking for information that is too sensitive - those of you who do a lot of BPO work, about how many companies/contacts do you find you need per 10 BPOs a week? I am hoping to help offset war chest expenses by routine BPO revenue and would appreciate knowing about how much I need to expand my contact base to make my business model work.

Expand it as much as possible. Its better to have a ton coming in and declining some, rather than hoping your regulars will send enough orders. Plus its easy to hire some people to help you complete orders. The bpo business bounces up and down too much to only rely on a select few companies.

Do not ditch you regulars.Just my advise.

Do you mean don't ditch the non-REO RE business we have? The plan is to sell the retail business to a couple of our junior agents over the next five years as we build the REO practice to the point we need it to be. It means "double" work for the next few years to do it that way but we can't just cut off our income stream while we build the REO.

We talked about trying to hang on to both but I think it's better to focus on a niche in the long run.

Thanks for the advice, BPOBill. I have been relying on a select few companies and know I need to add many more than just the "big players" to my contact list. I think I'll just make it a project to try to add a few every week and see how that goes.

Another question, if you don't mind - about hiring people to help with filling them out. I have a couple assistants helping out in our regular practice but I already feel like I am paying them sky-high wages for what amounts to pretty easy work and I can imagine the whining if I asked them to help with this, too.

So, what's a good wage do you think to do just the data entry, maybe printing out comps and tax records, or maybe to take a subject photo? My partner and I have always done this work ourselves but I'm sure it would be more efficient to pay someone maybe half the fee to do the grunt work and just concentrate on making sure there are good comps and then maybe just adding comments and checking the completed BPO for accuracy and so on. What do you all think?

I know that if I ramp up my company list to 100 or more there is no way I can do all these BPOs myself!

Welcome Ellen45, you said you were not new to the bpo industry and said you average around 10-15 a week and have about 7 reos in inventory. How long did it take you with the companies and amount your doing to get a listing. Also if you don't mind can I have the list of the companies you are signed up with. Because you see I too would like to get a lot of listings but don't know which companies give them out. You did say you have learned a lot the last few days here and wanted to give back what you could. Hopefully you will give back with your list of companies. Feel free to e-mail me with what ever companies you have. Minus, CW, CC, EML, M2M,ASSET, and EVAL.

Yes, I am happy to give back but like most posters here, I'm afraid I don't share my client list. I'm sure you will understand that.

As for how long it took me to get a listing, I started doing BPOs (sort of randomly, not in any organized way) my first year in real estate sales (seven years ago now) and got my first REO listing several months later. I think it helped that I had many years experience in property management, plus a terrific first year and had heavy listing business (aside from REOs) as a way to show credibility. However, it wasn't until I got serious about BPO/REO and starting working actively to build relationships with asset managers (as opposed to passively waiting for business or hoping a BPO would turn into a listing) that I started getting regular listings.

Make no mistake, it was HARD to break into. I put more effort into getting REO listings than most people put into getting a "regular" listing. There are a lot of people in my market (and some newbies here, too, I've noticed) who think REO is just a way to make easy money (maybe if "only" they had my client list, LOL)and I'd have to say that has not been my experience. I'd also have to say that even with the small number of REO listings I currently have, REO requires very efficient systems and lots of followup and that isn't for everyone. As I grow my business I know I will have to constantly work on improving systems to keep asset managers happy and everything flowing smoothly.

GOOD FOR YOU ELLEN! Don't give your client base to anyone. We share information on companies, that are troublsome, don't pay, etc. on this forum, we sure don't expect you to give names of companies you work for. We are all Realtors, or supposed to be, and the best way to get your companies,is READ THE OLD THREADS!
That's the right way to do it. Just my opinion.