he..he.. we both edited simultaneously.

I put the stupid in quotations for a reason. I didn't think the question was stupid at all. She has never done a BPO before and she wanted to know if she should use what the inside of the comparable homes look like condition wise in doing her exterior BPO. I also believe that she is looking for key phrases often used in BPO's. Like roof is near end of functional usfulness etc.
The main difference between a CMA and a BPO is that for a CMA you can use your own guidelines for determining what homes are comparable, but on a BPO you need to use the guidelines set forward by the company ordering it. So any specifics you layout are not going to help unless you live in cookie cutterville or thats exactly what the client is asking for.

The vast majority of my BPO's are occupied,unless they are 2nd opinion and after the eviction process,they usually are occupied. As an appraiser,my experience has been that the exterior of an occupied home is usually a pretty good indication of the interior. As far as going to visit the active listings inside, I have never done that for an appraisal or a BPO, PLEASE..Don't start that trend :)) I can see it now, BPO orders with 6 interior pics of all active comps required for $40!! Yikes!! The best way to ensure that you are using comps in comparable condition is to view the MLS listigs for active and sold comps, even if there is only 1 or no pictures on MLS, the description ie "Bring Your Paintbrush" "Needs TLC" or "Fully Remodeled" "Bring Your Fussiest Buyers" tells you about condition. Always search for allll previous MLS listings for the subject, you may find in the description "All new exterior paint, new hardwood floors and newly installed central AC" when it was listed 4 years ago. Appraising and BPOing is mostly investigative work with our knowledge and expertise of our market thrown in of course so look for clues to make sure your comps are similar to subject. Lastly, as far as commenting on subject exterior.. Landscaping,exterior walls, roof,fencing,windows,garage doors I can go on but I think I wrote much more than enough..sorry for the looong thread. I'll give you a quick exterior appraisal comment that I use for my average BPO's "Subject exterior appeared to be in average condition at time of exterior inspection with no signs of damage or deferred maintenance noted" then of course, you add specifics for each subject such as mature trees, corner lot etc etc Much Much More Success To All Of Us!!

Uh, can't we just all get along? Good luck Theresa, just make sure you turn it in on time. As far as being serious goes, hey, I don't mind making $50 for about an hours worth of work, that includes drive time too.

I hope your first one went fine, but please, for your safety, DO NOT get out of your car to do an exterior BPO. If you don't have a camera that can zoom in to get the address shot, get a new one or don't do BPOs. Good luck.

Teresa tips for you:

Never take the street shot close to the subject.You can take a few houses away or the end of the street.This way you need only 2 shots most of the time front and address verification which you should get in about 5 seconds with a digital camera.

You DO NOT have to kill yourself over the photo. Some people get into photo shop and angles and all the crap trying to be a phtographer through bpo's. I have performed thousands of bpo's and as long as there are not people or your car in the shots it passes everytime.

If you are doing an exterior DO NOT comment on the interior!
The house could look great on the outside so they don't hear neighbors complain or get cited for city voilations but they could be slobs on the inside you just don't know.Old pictures on the MLS are inaccurate as condition could have changed since that time.

Just put in remarks that "this is an exterior bpo and interior condition is not known"

If you are doing interiors make sure there are no pictures of people on the walls and make sure if there are mirrors you don't get a reflection of a person in your shot.It is a good idea to start learning what different types of repairs and labor would costs in your area for interior valuation purposes.

Everyone will have varying views on performing bpo's. Alot will have to do with are you in an urban,suburban,or rural area? Are homes mainly in subdivisions are are the homes scattered about on open sidestreets?

If your area has mainly spec homes bpo's are pretty cut and dry.If you are in a suburban or rural area you will need alot of experience and adjustments to do a bpo. A CMA is nothing like a BPO in my opnion BPO's are much more involved.


If you are doing these for a little extra cash make sure you check the tax records before accepting as usually they don't pay more because it's a difficult order.

I only take the hard ones when they pay over 100.00. If you are going to do ONLY bpo's full time and nothing else then you most likley will need to do the crap ones as well. For me I just do it to keep up on the market as my regular sales keep my busy.

Good luck to you we were all there with our first one once upon a time.

Thanks everyone for all this wonderful information. I am taking notes so I will hopefully do a good job!

any suggestions for cutting down on the time it takes to complete a bpo?

There are tips all over this forum. Keep reading and you will find them! It takes time, but the information is here. Good luck!

Another tip on exterior only BPO's the lenders at the conventions all state we must consider the interior condition to be equal to the exterior. So if you figure ext is in fair or poor condition and provide an estimate for repairs you also need to consider interior is in same condition and estimate repairs. I always put a statement also Ext BPO only interior condition can not be verified but for purposes of figuring value for this BPO interior condition is assumed to be in same condition as outside. Now if they come back at you for an interior, then you can adjust your "AS IS" but remember your repaired value should "never" change. Unless values are still adjusting due to market correction or area decline..... In a good market they should never change..... So in todays market price it by forecasting what it would take to sell it in 30-60 days based on the avg decline on most comp actives.... This will work unless real rural, if rural and lack of comps cause you to go to neighboring communities forecasting may not work.

In most cases even if it looks good on the outside you can count on carpet and paint on the inside at a minimum if it's over 4 years old at least in my area.

Some banks will say those are cosmetic items but I say they count because if you have property A that's newly constructed or updated and property B that is outdated or has condition problems that does affect salability and market price for the subject.

Remember a bpo is an opinion and a snapshot in time so don't read too much into it. The people that order these love to come back and say what happened here with this or that months later. Luckily I have never been called on any bpo's I have completed.You can't control what the market does in the coming months or the future condition of the property.

At First Am conference in San Diego they talked to us about completing their bpo's and they went over the scenario of forecasting based on actice comps. And no was talking about forecasting condition of the property. But, you can assume interior to be in poor condition if exterior is and some BPO companies actually ask you to do so. I did 500 bpo's last year and last year my clients expectations were different than this year. Getting in front of your clients sometimes sheds a little different perspectice on what their latest expectations are. That is why if you can it pays to go to some of the industry conventions or read DS News.