I know many of you have done plenty of BPO's & have not gotten a listing. I spoke to my broker & she said the split is the same for bpo's so I am trying to decide wether or not do spent my time doing them. Someone told me they are making approx $75 per bpo so at a 60/40 that is not much money, but looking at the big picture "maybe I would get a listing". How many of you have gotten listings? I know they take a lot of work....
Thanks.

I don't actively seek REOs, but I will tell you that your $75/order is high. I hover around $49-51/order.

I've done close to 1000 BPOs in 2 years and have gotten 10 REO listings within the past year. That is easy math 100 to 1 ratio. Markets are different, I'd say that ratio is high.

That is ridiculous that your broker takes a split, I'd find another broker.

And $75 is not the average price for a BPO, its lower, so factor that into your decision.

Good luck

I am doing fewer BPOs since I have held the line on fees (I won't do them for $75!) but have been very busy with REOs instead.

Any broker that is taking the same ratio as your commision split is taking advantage of you. Most take a much lower amount (basically to cover the office overhead of receiving and disbursing the funds), if any at all. Many brokers take nothing at all to encourage agents to do BPOs in hopes that it will result in listings where they will make their money.

There he goes again .... making our mouths drool ... would you consider an apprentice .. master?

60/40 split? Geez, you need to find a new brokerage that will give you at least a 80/20 split and make sure you they don't split any of your BPO work. Tell them you are not willing to negotiate this and that you can find a company that will give you what you want.

My average for an order is $50 for a drive by. I also think that you need to find a new Broker, mine doesn't take a cut. Also a 60/40 split is really high unless your Broker is handing you leads left & right.

I have been doing BPO's for almost 5 years now & have persued listings only since the beginning of the year, since then I have gotten 1 listing & since the beginning of the year maybe done 400 orders. So 400:1 that is pretty low ratio if you ask me.

FIND A NEW BROKER, OR BECOME A BROKER!

I don't pay a dime to my broker for my BPO work, he only gets a split when I sell something, he has no problems with that.

If you do decide to stick with that broker , that broker better not 1099 you also, because then your better off working at burger king...

Don't you get a 1099 from every bpo mill and reo company you work for? I don't see anyway around not getting or giving a 1099 - just keep up with those expenses.

Even then this is not a highly profitable business unless you are one of the few that really has it down to a science. To those few - you have my utmost respect as you have perfected the craft.

I'd like to know who's kicking in for the $10 in gas it's gonna take you to get those pics?

If you are paid $600 or more in a year you should expect the 1099 showing your earnings. Brokers should be including BPO money to the agent as well as commissions on the 1099. If you are getting payments from more than one source this would apply to each of them individually.

Also if you are handling REO properties then contractors should be receiving a 1099 from you if you pay them $600 or more in a year.

ZP

You've been given some pretty good advice in this thread. I do 99% of my orders from home (no cost to broker). The only cost the broker can incurr would be for the E & O. Most of my interiors range from $65 to $95 and exteriors $40 to $60. If the house was taking a cut it wouldn't be feasable. Agents do these for one of two reasons.....to get a listing or as a main business during this down cycle. You have to factor your costs in. My fuel costs alone average $600 a month. The costs to consider is ink and paper plus wear and tear on your printer and computer ( if you do these at home).

I agree with the forum......I would change brokers before they would get a cut. If you're at a 60/40 split you'll be doing these for free or close to it.

I hope this helps........

I have done hundreds of BPO's and listed a handful of REO's, in the past four years. I have never received a listing from a BPO order that I have completed. The listings all seem to come out of left field. The BPO's I do, seem to get listed by someone else - and other agents do BPO's on the listings I get.

Be very careful about giving advise about having BPO companies 1099 you. MOST states' licensure laws do not allow for anyone but your Broker to pay you for real estate related services. Further, if you do not have a brokers license in most states you cannot charge for an opinion of value legally.

Been in realty since August 2006. Doing BPOS for banks since April 2007. I've done probably over 1000 since then. Recently have 3 REOs in the last two months. Not sure if that's good/bad.

Broker I work with is 50/50 and that only applies to what I sell, not list and sure enough not for the BPOs I do.

The majority of my BPOs do not result in listings. Once in a while though I get lucky.

The BPO split should be negotiated with the broker. It seems steep to me, I would never have agreed to it. I would not mind chucking a little to the broker but we agreed that 100% on BPOs is good.

In my state I can get paid directly for my BPOs with Broker consent. Some companies pay me directly and other companies send it to the brokerage. I prefer to send it all to the brokerage to cut down on the number of W-2s I get each year, the broker prefers I get paid directly as it causes more work to process the check, then rewrite the check to me.

I can speak for our office policy and what works for us. We don't take a cut of bpo money. Our goal is to help our agents get listings and by them doing bpo's it increases their chance of REO listings which are the bread and butter of todays market.

I can understand your brokers side too, if you are doing bpos only for the income and not doing any transactions... the office needs to generate some income from you to make it a win-win partnership... but a lesser split on bpos could still achieve this. Hopefully a conversation with your broker can bring a resolution to keep you both happy!

I don't take anything out of my agents BPO pay.