I fall into this camp. I would make the changes if asked by the bpo company, but my preference is to show current data, most especially when the market is changing. It is the agent's job to expand out to comparable subdivisions. When the market is expanding I do the same thing. I might use one sold comp in subdivision 6-12 months old, if there are no listings or pendings.

Me too; but I just ask them to put that in writing so that I have can document why I'm deviating from standard procedure, and then I'll have a record of who told me what to do, why to do it, and when.

That usually terminates the request altogether.

What I was trying to say was that the DOMs of the listing comparables (two of which exceed 120 days) that are mirror images of the subject (same GLA, room count, floor plan, etc) display what the complex will not tolerate in terms of price IMO. My stance which I feel I am entitled to is that I would rather use recent sales in equally comparable townhome complexes that exceed one mile from the subject's location. It was either that or use two dated sales in the same complex as the subject in a rapidly declining market which I am adverse to doing.

I was probably in a catch-22 as if I originally used same complex dated sales and explained my reasoning, QC could then kick it back and say use more recent sales. It's more or less of a mute point as CC approved the BPO without having to make any comp revisions.

P.S. When I received the CR from CC, I was never asked to go back and use older sales BTW. They wanted to me to check tax records to see if there was a non-MLS sale available or a sale that exceeded typical search parameters, most notably more than 25% of the subject's GLA. There weren't any such sales in the subject's complex during the past six months which I explained in my revised report.

This is a good practice. Also you can include in the comments, Original Sold comp 1 and 3 replaced at request of QC for the purposes of......

I like to include the individual's Name and Title. . . . they deserve occasional recognition despite their shying away from the limelight.

I've had two BPOs that have caused me to laugh out loud when they were kicked back...

The first was a little while ago-I stated in the original BPO that the former '50's rambler had burned down and had recently been replaced with a McMansion. I did my BPO on the house that now exists on the lot. It was kicked back to me with a request to do the BPO on the original house, because that was the one the lender had in their records. I refused(it was not a retro BPO). Not sure how I was supposed to take pictures of a house that no longer existed.

Today I had one kicked back with a suggested comp to use. The comp they wanted me to use was an attached single family townhouse. The subject was an apartment building-not one of the units in the apartment building, the entire apartment building.

I got a hit from QC today. They wanted me to break down all adjustments for each comp, showing how I arrived at the adjusted value. I politely pointed out, that at the bottom of their form, in the comment section, I gave a break down on adjustments........$$ per s.f. for GLA. $$$$$$$ for pool $$$$ per garage space, etc. QC said, "We understand it, but our client won't". I then said, "tell them to use your other form that gives that break down and quit being so cheap"....we both laughed. I don't think I'll ever see their client on that TV game show, "Are you smarter than a 5th grader"......lol.

I keep getting these "Review the comps on this other BPO and give your opinion" QCs. I don't mind doing this occasionally and it is to be expected on hard to comp properties. But some of the ones I've been getting lately!

Today I had one where the comps were all different ages, mixed construction types, condition that varied from trashed to total rehabs, and ranged from $125000 to $277000 in a neighborhood were there were BUNCHES of total "cookie cutter" identical twins of the subject right between $170000 and $180000. What the heck can you say other than the previous comps "didn't appear to support a common value?"

What I WANTED to say was "Broker who completed previous BPO appears to have been drunk while doing so. And this is not the first time. I seem to be getting asked to comment on this clown's comps rather often."

The trend I am currently experiencing is my banks are over pricing listing - in a major way. Here's the kicker - they keep dumping money in them in hopes that this will increase value. No - that's not how it works. You can put carpet and paint in the house - but if the values in the neighborhood for a house in average condition are $80,000 then listing my property at $114,000 is not gonna fly. Just did my third BPO - yep values still at $80ish - and they reduced it to $109900. So I would like to add that the appraiser who did the appraisal - was not only obviously drunk but does not let a thing like school district bother him. 2 miles away is a subdivision with houses that are selling in the $100s but - different school district - The one with $100000 houses is located in a district with a good rating from the US Dept of Education and the one that my listing sits in has a poor rating. It totally makes sense - I must just be a crappy realtor - only one showing for the entire listing period - I would like to make a suggestion. Appraisers get paid when the house sells - they can wait 6 months for their check - since they just put me in that position. I love doing BPOs, monthly reports, and property checks just because they rely on an appraiser for the listing price - how about the appraiser can keep redoing his appraisal every 30 days and he can pick up the property checks and monthly reports?

I've actually done what Ellen proposes - although I didn't suggest they were intoxicated.
I have however requested that they return the prior to the originator and suggest they learn how to say "Paper or plastic?"

same here! Just got the same QC request. Did a interior in an upscale gated PUD. Prior was an exterior, there were 13 solds to choose from in this PUD. Why take comps from 4 different communities? All with lower values? Then I have to waste my time proving that the other agent is clueless.

Oh how I've missed this. I've been so burried in reports lately I haven't been able to come up for air.

My standard procedure is to let the agent know what the problem is. Now say the comps are outside of 1 mile. I'm not necessary looking for comps to fit in 1 mile and neither is my client. Generally I'm looking for a detailed reason as to why they are outside one mile.

To answer the comment about picking up a newspaper... A QCr's job is to ensure that their client knows about the market from the report. So if by some chance their client doesn't know that FL has a terrible market for condo's right now, they can pick up that pretty report and read 'Currently FL's market for condo's is terrible due to the decrease in market, high REO and short sale presence, problems with financing, FHA restrictions ect. This being the case, I did have to expand up to 2 miles to locate a comparable that is most indicative of subject market area value as we have a lack of sold inventory.'

Thats just my two cents.


Back to work.

J~

But J~ . . . . if you said all that in prose, wouldn't you be violating those 180 or 256 character rules by writing all fancy-like, in complete sentences, with punctuation, and using those big expressive multi-syllabic words ? We always have to boil things down to just the pure essence of a thought.

Isn't there a rule that if you can't say it in less than 10 words, it doesn't need to be said. Like, what's preferred would be not much more than a grunt.

Okay... Let me try again.


'Currently FL's market for condo's is terrible due to the decrease in market, high REO and short sale presence, problems with financing, FHA restrictions ect. This being the case, I did have to expand up to 2 miles to locate a comparable that is most indicative of subject market area value as we have a lack of sold inventory

Translates into:

'Expanded 2 miles to locate comps due to lack of inventory in market area for subject property type due to REO/SS's and financing'

Better?

Sometimes I feel that the QCers initially understand the problem with lack of comparable sales. Maybe they kick-back reports just to go through the motions of things, so that way they can tell the customer, "We did have the BPO agent research again all possible neighborhood sales data, but to no avail".

Perhaps it part of the game that needs to be played.