Late last Friday I got a rush order from C/C....24 hour interior......pay was the most ever offered by them (that should send off some red flags). I had a ton of orders to complete within the next 24 hours and had to pass. I kept their site opened and noticed nobody was picking up the order. As I work for NEEDY GREEDY REALTY I was tempted. I continued to keep an eye on the order as I was completing the others.....the temptation was killing me...I WANT THIS ORDER...my greed made me work faster on completing my other orders......faster and faster I worked......my heart was pounding.....nobody has picked up this order yet.....suddenly, a little voice went off inside of me and said "LET IT GO". Not long after that inner voice encounter the order was picked up.

Now, let's flash forward to today......I had some free time this afternoon........sooooooooo, I thought I'd do a little research on that "golden egg" I passed up. It was a rural property.......took my search to 5 miles .......no comps......went to 10 miles...no comps.... went to 20 miles ......and still no comps....and when I say no comps, I mean no sale or listing comps....at 30 miles I gave up. At this distance I would be comping this to a barge or a boat...lol....

The point of this story...LISTEN TO YOUR INNER VOICE (aka: gut feeling).

Jim:

95% of the time, I look up the tax record or search the MLS of the subject property before accepting orders. If your work load allows you to be choosey, they why accept hard properties to comp? Granted if the order is from a blast company like EML, LA, MSV, etc., you won't necessarily have the time to research the subject before someone else accepts it. However if the offer is via a direct assign company or one where you get preffered offers, they I always check them out before acceptance. Doing BPOs is a time management buisness. If that hard to comp subject takes more time than usual, that will take its toll on your income per hour ratio. Glad you passed on that one!

Brad

Brad

You're correct about time being critical. I factor in time and fuel costs for starters. C/C will notify me by text....still only have a few minutes to respond....not enough to research though. I had one a few weeks ago, only 10 miles from my house..built in the 40's, on 1/2 acre.....comps were all on 10 to 20 acres, built in the 80's and 90's....had to pull comps from town due to age and add value for location and lot size....forwarned them that QC would more than likely be involved.....got an email back and they said I was right on the money with last BPO.....got lucky on that one.

I think my key to making this thing work is listen to that inner voice......before any of the class clowns jump in on that last line, no, I'm not talking to myself.......lol

I wish I would listen to my inner voice when I got an order which I took because the pay was so good. So, I accepted it (rep called on my cell and asked if I can turn it in next day).Sure, I know this town very well, plenty of new developmets and super easy to comp. But when I finally got to my MLS to look up the tax record, it was a rural development nearly 5 miles away from newer homes and about 55 years old! Well, I got into car, drove all way to that place, and realized that ALL HOUSES on that street DON'T HAVE NUMBERS on them! Long story short, I called rep and explained that I can't indentify the subject, better yet, there was no road, just a gravel drive and all mailboxes are 800 feet away. So, I burned 3 gallons of fuel and this order is under "Delayed until further notice". OMG, if only I would listen to my inner voice...

Go to msn maps and do a birds eye view to locate the subject. Ive had to do that a few times, but its pretty helpful. Someone in a qc department taught me that.

Jim, great story, only thing is, you still wasted time looking it up and trying to get comps, should of listened to your inner voice again.

SOCAL

I know this may sound stupid, but I believe we have two inner voices....one being positive (little angel?), and one being negative (little devil?). These two will constantly oppose each other. At times, I have to call a time out, being the only referee available. Yesterday, I had some free time, and called a time out......my inner negative kept saying I made a stupid move when I passed on the order. I had to put this puppy to bed, one way or the other...thus, the research.

I have such a high driving competitive nature, and, at times can be my worst enemy. It was fairly obvious, with just a little research, that the positive side won......time to put the puppy down. The other positive that came out of this was "I will never take an order in that area"....lol.

Jim, I would of done the same thing, sometimes you just gotta know.

Jim,

I really enjoyed your story. At times when I get caught up with a bunch of BPOs and then out of nowhere, I get an offer for a rush and I'm like, "Take it. Take it." But then again, I also hear my inner voice when it says, "Something's fishy" or "Uuu, more shopping money." I guess you never know unless you look into it.

=)

XmasTree

It's our cometitive nature that drives us to take on more than we should. In the good old days we competed for listings.....now, it's BPO orders..strange circles we run in. The inner voice, the gut feeling, whatever you want to call it, I believe it's in all of us. One may rationalize and say it's experience or just dumb luck.....me, I choose to stay with the first thought.

Recently, I read in this forum, one of our members is considering a career change and leave the business. I went through the same thing not that long ago. My choice was just to take some time off until the market turns. Three years ago I bought a small place up in the mountains. My thought was just to head up there and ride out the storm. Through some financial planning (dumb luck) I don't have to kill myself in this business
.....just had to learn to live on less. Then, that inner voice kicked in.....WHY NOT DO REO'S....and how do we get REO's....by doing BPO's. Within a few months I had a thriving BPO business but no REO's....the inner voice kicks in again..IT'S NOT THAT IMPORTANT... so I let it go.....and guess what.....a few months later came the REO's. Anybody reading this post may think I'm crazy...if I am, I can't think of a better way to go...inner voice, gut feeling, or whatever....I believe it's there in all of us....just sometimes you have to reach down deep and grab hold of it.

I would have taken it, and hated myself the next day. I have 2 devils saying accept, accept, accept.

Jim,
I couldn't agree more that we have to listen to those inner voices. Sometimes it takes quite a bit of work to quiet things enough to hear the message. Our lives are filled with noise from TV, radio, traffic and Ipods. All that noise interferes with my thinking. I once conducted orientations for new hires at a suburban department store and part of the class was to talk about employee parking and safety. I always stressed that they should listen to their inner voice if they felt uncomfortable and to get someone to escort them to their car. Call it instinct, inner voice, guardian angel, whatever! So stop, take a breath, be quiet and Listen!

jim,

i don't disagree with you. i totally understand where you're coming from. you're right about completing BPOs to get your foot in the door for REOs. course through it all, we'll have distractions keeping us away from our goal. it's a matter of zoning it out. =)