Is it worth it?
How do you get started?
Is this for agents who cant make sales, or have too much time on their hands?
What are the advantages?
What companies employ you?

Please post all thoughts and information.

-Please Advise-

Good luck getting any info about that.

Yes, it's worth it. The $$ just for BPOs I recieve on a monthly basis more than covers my truck & mortgage payments. You get started by doing research. No, it's not just something to fall back on when you have nothing else going. There are quite a few dedicated agents on this forum in the REO/Foreclosure section that are very successful in this niche. Advantages include, almost always something to do, but still allows time for other RE activities, potential for listings, broadening your knowledge of your market, & becoming much more profficient at the CMA process. As far as what companies employ, well, they don't employ you. You're an independant contractor, and the co's are your clients. This is a very competitve niche, and while there's a host of free info available on this site, and other places on the web, it's doubtful that most agents will give out their clients' info. Look at it this way, would you want to give out your conventional resale clients' info to another agent?

I can't say I make my mortgage payments on my BPO money, but I do Okay. I also have got to know my area better than I did in 2 years doing nothing but listing and selling. PLUS, I have had several REO listings/sales, and more in pre-list as a direct result of starting BPOs. This end of RE is harder than conventional sales, and you have to be very conscientious- it's really not something to take lightly, as many agents seem to do. read posts in the REO/foreclosure section, contact companies, and make sure your broker allows this activity (and find out how much he might keep from your bpo earnings).

I stopped doing them. The price some companies are willing to pay in the time frame they allot isn't worth it to me. For example, I'm not driving 30-40 miles roundtrip to take pictures, research 6 comps (3 solds, 3 active), and fill out a lengthy form by 1:00 tomorrow afternoon for $40-85. When you average it out, and include gas, I was making less than $10/hr.

That being said, when I was broke, a few hundred bucks meant the difference between paying a car payment or not.

Some people do very well with them. It also depends on how generous your broker is. Some people's brokers allow them with no split - others want their split.

I make about half what I did working full-time for a title agency before my daughter was born working only 2 companies (and one being a "low" payer I recently found). I just signed up for 3 more this week, and plan to add a couple more to that. Hoping to make what I was making before once some more orders come in. It never takes me more than 3/4 hours a day. Tops. It is perfect for me and my family, so I can be home more. I take my daughter with me most of the time, since I don't interact with people at all. My broker lets me have the whole amount.

Please elaborate.

If I understand it correctly; you can average 5-6 jobs a week, and make about 50-100 per job? By the way, any broker that would cut into that doesn't need to be a broker.
Thank you for all of your great responses, remember we offer 33% referral fees; tell your clientel to buy Vegas. Have a great weekend!

Brandon

5-6 a week? I suppose it could be that way for some depending on the area. Haven't run the numbers lately, but I think I'm doing 60+ a month now. But my area's fairly big. 3 full counties, and parts of 4 others. And I'm also in like the 2nd highest foreclosure state in the nation, so I know I've got a serious potential for getting the listings off of these. One of the counties in which I work has 48 going up for S.S. this month, I've done BPOs on about a third of these properties, for companies that pass out listings.

Do you have to have your brokers license to do BPO's. Pardon me if it is a stupid question...

Indiana requires a broker license to do BPO's. Illegal here for salesperson per local Realtor association. May be different in your neck of the woods.

I've done BPOs for several years. Average about 350-400 a year. Plus I get listings from them. Our REO department averages about 40 listings at any given time. Oh yeah, they're worth it. You don't have to be a broker in Ohio to do BPOs. And a good broker won't take a cut of them. But they are a lot of work if you're going to do that many, and you have to limit your "non-REO" listings in order to devote that much time to them. I try to keep just a few private-owner listings, because my REO listings are a LOT of paperwork.

Is it illegal per Indiana state law or just against the local association policy?

1. Sometimes they're worth it, sometimes not. You can always decline any that you don't want to do.
2. I got started by default. I was new and didn't have anything else to do anyway....and no money to do it with (it was a very different market then).
3. No, most that I know of are active REO agents. The newbies who aren't going to make it in this business anyway never do enough of these to learn to complete them quickly.
4. Several advantages: I drive around all day long anyway so I might as well take a couple of BPO pics along the way. You WILL learn your market by doing the research for BPOs. You can end up with some REO listings. If you're a newer agent who wants to learn the market and make some money along they way BPOs are not a bad deal.
5. About 20 different BPO companies and a few local banks.

Funny thing is, I don't know why I still do these things....it's like a bad addiction. Keep in mind that I'm in a rural area so we're not talking huge numbers of BPOs here. These days I only do maybe 2 or 3 per week.

so where do i go to sign up?

You're kidding, right?

East Texas...Funny you said BPO's are like a "bad addiction". I'm going away for a couple of days but still keep checking to see if I got any requests. It would be hard to fit them in, but I can't stop myself! Now I know why - I'm addicted too!

What I meant about REO listings being more work than conventional listings is that there's a huge amount of paperwork involved for most. You have to do the BPo, and in many cases, have to order any clean-up, trash-out, lawn and repair work, pay for it upfront, submit the paperwork, and hope you get paid back within 6 weeks. You have to report every month(sometimes more) on the activity and advertising for each listing. You have to keep up with the market very well, bacause you are the eyes and ears of these companies...As far as where to sign up, do some research in the foreclosure forum here, but don't ask for someone to give you a list of companies that we've all worked hard to find on our own. Reading a few hours should give you about 20 decent companies names, and about 5 that aren't very good. Start there. Ask your broker if your E&O will cover this work, and how much he/she wants from the BPOs you do. Get plat books or good county maps, and LEARN YOUR AREA! But mostly, read about the companies, and the experiences of agents in this line ofwork before you decide you wanna do it...