What you failed to understand is the reason for a BPO.
Bottom line is that YOUR final documented value(s) are BIASED based on YOUR METHODOLOGY and agreement to adjust YOUR values. YOU are persuaded by an outside source.

YOU are not providing an unbiased value.

You are a neutral party or supposed to be for that matter.

It is an opinion of value(s), not to be misconstrued with as you stated, 'one' value. I dont know about YOUR orders but mine all have either/or a combination of 120 day/90 day & 30 day as is & repaired value(s) and thus there is no as you stated, 'one value for a house'.

I do indeed wonder about some agent's knowledge or lack there of pertaining to this industry.

This industry is most definitely taking turns that are very unfavorable. It will eventually rid itself of/weed out such unfavorable & unethical practices. It is just a matter of time.

Who are you and what qualifies you to make all these statements about people you don't know and their work that you've never seen?! And do you know Roxie and Lucille?

This thread just made me cringe. It is an opinion of value based on the comps. No one should be telling you where they want their value to fall. The banks we work for might question it if it is a certain % difference from the appraisal & ask for an explanation, but never tell you where the value should fall. Conroe is absolutely correct... this is your opinion of value compared to the comps & the market trend...hence the name CMA - current market analysis or BPO - broker price opinion Please do not reply " Absolutely. I can do it if you'd prefer.” If you are doing bpos for me.

This is a forum for RE discussion correct or incorrect?
What qualifies me to make as you stated "all these statements" are your responses to who you are, the manner in which you think(YOUR METHODOLOGY) and what you do. I did not pull this out of the sky. You said it, I didn't.

Why are you so very defensive? You can adjust your values as much as you feel, feel the need to and/or as requested to, that's your choice. That is a reflection on your ability to make a decision based on your RE experience and knowledge pertaining to your particular market.

I had no intention of ruffling your feathers.


Are these people with a local firm in my area? Are they with an AM company, financial institution or what? Never heard of them. I do know a lot of people but I would need a last name to confirm.

What do they have to do with this topic? Makes me wonder???????

I don't think anyone is saying they just change the comps or value, no question. On a case by case basis, we look back at what we did, consider what our client is telling us and then make a decision. Sometimes we stand firmly, other times we may have a different take on our work the second time around.

I don't think any agent who is valuing 1200+ properties a year can say that they didn't make any mistakes or reach a hasty conclusion once or twice. Anyone who is self-aware and constantly tries to better themselves will readily admit to mistakes or concede that they may not have the best answer to every question.

That makes sense then... the way it was presented was that if a bank or AM asks for the value to be changed then it is changed no questions asked.

Yes, my opinions are derived from comps. Comparable listings represent a RANGE of list prices, and sales represent a RANGE of sale prices. I can pick from the high end, the low end, the middle. I've done BPO's in areas rich enough in comparables to select the same floorplan, same condition, same amenities and guess what? There is STILL a RANGE of values for them.

If you really want to work yourself up, think about where those list prices and sale prices come from. They are nothing more than other people's opinions as well. How many agents have represented a buyer and NEGOTIATED within a range of values to purchase a house. You're automatically incorporating other people's bias into your opinion. If you use average, median, high, low of any number (psf, sale price, list price, etc) you are using a RANGE on which to base your numbers.

Nobody posting in this thread has indicated they would "just say yes" and change their number. But welcome to the shades of gray folks, there is a range within which you can move and the change is NOT statistically significant.

And I can assure you that my opinion on this does not reflect a lack of knowledge about this industry, Conroe. It does however incorporate a broader base of knowlege regarding statistics AND the uncertainties that are inherent in descriptive decision theory.

No one is saying they are going to blindly change values. What IM saying is that if a company calls me with legit concerns I will look it over, if I feel like my values could be slightly off I will adjust my range. No problem. But like I said, this has never happened to me so I'm assuming I must be pretty dang accurate. But obviously if 1 of 3 BPO's is way off and that 1 BPO is mine, I don't have a problem with rethinking it and changing it. I make mistakes too, I'm only human. And if an appraiser thinks my range of values are waaay off then we have a big problem. If an appraiser offers comps that are suitable and the value is different than mine, I really don't have a problem changing them. Provided I agree.
There is only one time I had someone question my values. And that was EML. They sent me appraisers comps....all but one was fictitious. In that instance I did stand firm and mine was accepted as is.
Other than that...never had this problem but if I did and my values were off, I wouldn't have problem changing them. At all.

Am I the only person who read the ENTIRE email?
The email says either:
A. Lower the value
~OR~
B. Explain why you won't.

And again, I don't have a problem with doing A or B as long as it's justified.

Val...so you're saying if your company calls with a QC issue and you ask me to do one of those two things you would be perfectly happy with a big fat NO?

My answer to you or any company that calls with these issues is NO PROBLEM.

Believe it or NOT you don't have ALL the answers. And sometimes you could make a mistake. Shocking, I know. But really, it DOES happen.
And WHY would you have a problem if a company calls and asks you to either change your values or explain why not?

And if the value they'd like to see is within your range, why would you not change it? I fail to see what the big deal is.

Either A or B is a fine answer. All I was saying is that this is your opinion of value & I agree mistakes do happen. An explanation of your value is perfectly fine. There are MANY companies out there that order bpos, know what value they want & will not accept a bpo unless it is within a percentage...even with an explanation. This is not right. AVM does not want agents that do not offer an explanation & just chnage the value to get paid is all I was saying.... I was not picking on anyone in particular..Sorry if you took it that way.

LOL...it's okay. I didn't think YOU were attacking me at all.
The 'tone' of my response was not directed at you. I was just asking you a question, discussing even, with you.
We won't talk about the 'tone' toward Lucy. That's a whole 'nuther ballgame there.

Oooooh....I see why you thought that. I should have split my response into 'A' and 'B' sections. A was meant for Lucy. B was meant for you. Does that make sense?

I said I would not change my values. I never said that I would not explain my decision. Naturally, when I submit my orders, I always provide a subject pricing strategy even when not asked to explain. Don't you?

I never had this happen to me based on documentation of my pricing strategy and all comps that definitely support my value.

I did learn something from Asset V & M a long time ago, "the client does not want an appriased value, the client want the true market value of the subject". These are different you know? What about current local market conditions, supply and demand, inventory/new/never lived in, to be built/under construction, re-sale, reo/foreclosure, # of active competing/similar properties etc...or are you one of the RE agents that doesn't consider all aspects of the subject in order to reflect a true market value?

Yes, the current appraised value must be considered in such valuations but it is not the leading contributing factor. This is why when I look in my current MLS, I see properties that have been on the market for over 1 year due to the fact that they over-priced, they have astronomical DOM and once archive searched, I find the original LP and all price changes thereafter and also find that the same identical property on the same street, built by the same builder sold within 90 DOM with a realistic(market condition/market value)LP.

Each mentioned above and other aspects must be considered and utilized when documenting the true market value which is completely different from an appraised value.

Are you getting orders that request an appraised value?
If this is your case, there is no reason for a BPO other than to verify if occupied(if you can) and to obtain photos to support the current condition of the subject exterior(if indeed the property is still there).

I never have been asked for an appraised value. The AM company can utilize the www in any Country to obtain this information by simply going to the subject's County Appraisal web site.

I do know what I am doing in RE.

Blah blah blah. Yadda yadda yadda. Deja Vu....

Thank you for your response unfortunately, you evaded all questions and all answers. Very convenient.

Sounds like a GWB routine to me...