Lately, I've been receiving a lot of interior orders, with most being for a loan mod or short sale. Here's the issue...

Gaining entry is like pulling teeth.....no call back from agents, no call back from owners.......about 90% of my BB orders go down the drain and cancel.........

Yesterday, I received two orders from two different companies. One agent did return my call........she states, "we don't know if this property is vacant and secure... email me tomorrow for status"......hello?.... I was on the road (kind of hard to write down email address). agent is located 70 miles from subject (my favorite agent). You can guess who's going to get a phone call (not an email), this afternoon.....lol

Second order, no call back from agent......contact company and update status.....was told, "call POC every couple of hours until you get through for first 48 hours".........I can do that, WHEN COWS FLY.........

I had another one, a few days ago........call agent....agent says, "will call you back"......a few minutes later...agent states, "owner is waiting for your call"......I make call to the owner...get voice mail.....tried 3 times...."waiting for my call?".....The next day, I call the agent and ask, "did you talk directly with the owner?"......agent says "no, I left a voice mail".....

I happen to enjoy interior orders....time consuming, they are.
.......But, as we all know, establishing a realistic value is more accurate.....oh, well........had to rant.......

Interiors on short sales are a pain. I love it when I call the agent to get access and they say, just call the owner/tenant. I reply, No, you do your job and call and explain why I am coming to take photos inside their house. People are very sensitive these days about people taking photos.

I don't like doing interior's when the property is vacant, vandalized and located in a really bad neighborhood, with boarded windows pryed open. I've encountered squaters and sleeping vagrants. Sometimes I feel like I should be "armed".

I seldom take them and only if vacant. Even then too much hassle unless with a showing service to gain access. I probably turned down 6-8 this week; to me it's not worth the extra $30 or whatever.

you should be.

I only take them if the contact is an agent or has a lockbox.

Luckily, most agent round here are pretty good about returning calls and setting up interiors.

I guess they realize No Sale No Pay

I know it's difficult sometimes to do the research before accepting, but I like it when I can pull up the listing and see an agent has the listing * even if I've been given another contact number!
Most say call XXXXX company for the code and don't go out until you have confirmed that the property has been secured. Even then you know it may be a 2 day delay getting into the property. One company says, once you have gained entry the order is due within 24 hours. I guess that's not too bad. on the other hand, it really puts a winkle in your life having to call back and leave messages over and over again to gain access when the property is owner occupied. My experience has been that those occupants can be a hassle so nine times out of ten, I'm swearing I won't take those but because those orders usually pay well, I usually still take them.

I'm stalking the broker and the agent, trying to get an appt to get inside today. I've been sweet, understanding and patient for 2 days and now I'm not anymore.

Ive gotten two interiors on houses with tenants that are being evicted. One tenant hung up on me and the other didnt answer. One tenant was in there because the listing agent let the buyer move in before the property closed on a short sale. The bank didnt get approval for 4 months, but by that time the values dropped another $25,000 and the buyer wouldnt close. I really hate interiors unless its on an reo and I can get access easily.

I normally tell the short sell agent, that the value of his listing is greatly affected by the difficulty of me gaining access. LMAO

That's a good one! hahahahahahaha

I wish agents would stop tellling me what comps to use before I go out! Maybe I should start saying that the number of comps they give me adversly affects my final evaluation!

Remember the agent request that I email her to see if the proprty is vacant?......I called instead....got the ok and LB code......I had a bad feeling on this one......I drive 27 miles, arrive at the subject, unit is condo and GATED.....I walk up to the gate, approximately 20 lock box's...none marked for any of the units.....I call the agent.....no call back...I take each combo box, one at a time, try the combination..... none worked....just gota love this type of agent.....I call again, and no answer......I patiently wait for somebody to exit the property, with hopes lock box would be on the unit...I wait and I wait......finally, I make entry into the complex...After a 15 minute search, I find the subject and lock box is in place.....and, given combo was bogus....really starting to love this agent.......Through trial and error, I finally get the box to open and make enty.....spent a total of 90 minutes at the unit from arrival at the front gate to departure......am in a great mood by then.....This is Friday and in the afternoon.....bad day to be in Dodge.....commuters and grid lock going back.....25 minute trip out was 95 minutes going back........agent has still not called me back........
SO, HOW WAS YOUR DAY?.........lol

I've posted this before, but thought I post it again for fun, I also added #5.

If the listing agent has taken any type of "Short Sale" class, then they have been told to meet the BPO agent at the house (in one local "short sale" classes, they are told to remove the key from the lockbox as soon as they know the BPO is going to be done to force the BPO agent to call them, even on vacant houses and therefore make it more challenging to get the BPO done), bring the lowest comps (usually the lowest priced homes in the area, but not necessarily comparable), plead the seller's sob story and basically do everything they can to influence the value.

Here what I would really like to fax over to these investors and/or short sale agents (this of course is in jest):

1. Every time you mention the offer price on the house, I will up my value by $5000.
2. Every time you bring me comps or send me the appraisal, I will up the value by $10,000 (I belong to the MLS and know how to pull comps and the appraisal means nothing to me).
3. Every time you start telling me the seller's sad story, I will up my value by $5000, if the story goes beyond 1 minute, I will add $1000 per minute.
4. If you follow up with me in a week to find out the value, the next BPO I do for you will automatically have a value increase of $10,000.
5. If you bring a list of bogus, inflated repair costs, I will double it and add it my final value.

Just let me do what I am being paid to do and get on with it. Remember I represent the seller's lender, not the seller/owner, not the investor and not the buyer or either agent. Chances are I have 10+ more BPO's I have to get done too. If you have done your job at all and checked the real comps in the MLS then you will have a pretty good idea of where I will come in at and whether your offer will work or not.

...I want them to know See's candy is my favorite chocolate. No, it won't effect the price but I'm shameless and I'll eat it anyway.

I had a FNMA interior this week. Called the contact and the secretary says it is occupied and that she will need to make an appointment. I let her know I only have a limited amount of time and she says she understands.

After several hours, and me getting nervous, I get a call and she wants to know why I need in, who am I working for - I tell her at this point - 'My Client' - she puts me on hold and gives me a number for the owner. If course I say - this number is my contact number and she repeats the number. grrr
So I call the number and get a machine, name on machine doesn't match owner, but I leave a message. I call the broker again and let them know. This time I just say - hey, I don't have anymore time I will just call my client and let them know the listing office would not cooperate and make the necessary appointment. All of a sudden I get, let me call you right back, and they did with an appointment for an hour later.

Funny - this guy is the biggest FNMA REO broker in the area - I almost wished the appoitment wasn't made. Still the subject was listed way, way overpriced - now the client wants me to justify my higher price then they think the comps indicate, which is 40%+- less then current list price and about 50%+- less the original list price starting 300+ days ago.

Pretty funny - especially for what I am getting paid - or sad - depending on your outlook