My membership is expiring and the renewal states it is 180.00 that seem kind of high since i never recieved anything to start with. I thought some told me it was like $75.00.

I can teach them more about BPOs then they can me after so many years of experience!

That fee is for 3 years...........$70 is for one year.

Ok thanks Candy, that seems more reasonable

This time around I chose to go with the 3 year. The reasoning behind it was due to all their work on the Congress/Appraiser issue. They didn't twist my arm.......was just a personal thing.

Just got email that my NABPOP renewal was due. I would have rather had a call telling me that I had a surprise colonoscopy tomorrow and it was time to start my prep work.

I got it too SMG.... Ugh!

Do you know if you sign up for the 3 years do you still have to take the "renewal" test every year?

I recently renewed and didn't have to take any test. I don't think it's a requirement, but if you re-certify, you could wind up higher on the list of brokers in your area.

Are you a C-REP?

I am and the directory shows my certification date back in 2009. I haven't taken any of the tests since then and am still second on the list in my area.

When I renewed mine last year, I had to take a condensed version of the test to maintain my certification.

Mine comes up in July. Blah.

Do I hear it's not worth the bucks?? was contemplating taking the course- doing BPO's since 2002,40-70/mos- wonder what else I could learn?

I wouldnt do it if there were already several agents in my area doing it. When I signed up, there were zero certified in most of my coverage area. It got me a little work, maybe 5 orders that I know of.

Flip side of that is, my uncle lives in Pheonix, and has been with NABPOP for a while. There is also a large number of certified there, and he has never seen any work directly related to NABPOP.

I do it strictly for the EML piece. I do get a few extr BPOs every year for outside companies as a result of this. I am still confused about having to retest. I am going to just to be on the safe side. Not certain if it is necessary or not, but it will not hurt I guess..

I talked to someone over there about re-testing. She said the $75 is to renew membership only. Our designation has to be renewed separatly by taking the test. Its a pass/fail test and your original score will not change. Every week they send out a report to their clients reporting which agents are still current or not. You have the take it before your original test date and you have as many times as you have left from the original test (ex. I think it was 6). What she said that really scared me was if you let that expire you have the take the big test all over again!

That's enough for me to NEVER let it expire. I HATED that test.

For me, membership has paid off big-time. I don't regret it one bit, but I wish we didn't have to renew annually.

I originally tested in 07/09. I show three passwords available for retesting....

For me NABPOP has of course helped with EML. It paid for itself there within the first week.

I couldnt imagine having to take the big test again. Im dreading the other one enough. Im going to start at it in July. I think I have until the 10th to get lucky enough to pass it.

I'll be feeling your pain in July. The renewal test, while not fun, is not nearly as brutal as the original test.

Y'all will think I'm a masochist, but I just joined a couple of weeks ago. I took the big test SIX times. I wanted to be on the top of the list in my area. Now I am with a score of 96.

I actually failed it the first time I took it. But passed the other five times thank goodness. Work is so slow for me here that I had the time to do it.

If things continue to be slow, I will actually take it again when I get more chances. Just to see if I can hit a 99 or something better than my 96. I think some woman in Dallas has a score of 99. I want to score at least as well as her.

Can you tell I'm competitive? lol

Love the competitve spirit. Not certain if it will make any difference though. If I am a client and need a BPO done, the scoring would not mean anything to me. I would probably give the bix to whoever answered their telephone first. I may be dead wrong, but I do not think the person in my ara that scored ahead of me gets any more work that I do. Just my take...

Now, how do we tell "Texas Gal" and "THE Texas Gal" apart?

You can tell us apart from our little picture dealie. TheTexasGal was here first and I didn't realize that when I picked my name. I asked her a long time ago if she thought I should change mine to something else and she said no, go ahead and keep it.

Yeah, I don't know how much the score really matters to companies in the overall scheme of things. I guess maybe I just get a tiny ego boost from seeing my name up on top like that.

And I did learn a thing or two in the process of taking the test that many times so it's all good.

They'll try to give it to the person who will do it for the least amount of cash possible IMO.

Brad you are exactly right about that.

I retested and passed first time through with an 88%. The qustions that have you measuring GLA on a property are just not applicable. I am not aware of any of my peers in any states that measure a property when doing a BPO. So, I threw the towel in on those questions and tok the hit. The stuff that is applicable to what I do I aced. Some of this stuff is good info, but some of it is a bit dated.

Glad that is behind me for another year.

Im going for it today. Wish me luck.

Still one of the biggest money grabs in the history of Real Estate... Completely un-necessary

I agree with MountainBPO, I have a problem with an association having partners which are BPO companies. I renewed when nabpop had company looking for agents in June. Nabpop stated they were paying high fees and quick payment. Well now it is July, no work, high pay was 50 dollars and nabpop wants promises servicers basically an appraisal. When need n association who represents us not the servicers. Never again

Worked well for me...learned quite a bit, got enough work to pay for it many times over.

One mans ceiling is another mans floor.

Pretty strong statement considering how many RE related ventures try to get into our pockets. HOw do you feel about NABPOP carrying the torch for BPOs, providers, etc. against those whom are not a fan of BPOS?

Personally, I appreciate their going to bat for those of us that do BPOs, I have learned from their program and I have received work as a result of my membership.

Have you noticed how people will post negatives about NABPOP and not have any working knowledge of the organization?
NABPOP lead the fight in Washington with Congress to save the BPO industry when the appraisers tried to shut us down?...Where was NAR?
My BPO income increased $1,100 monthly after joining NABPOP in the first 45 days....Sure looks like a waste of money for me...lol.

Oh I completely agree. Now if I could just pass that damn re-certification test.

They were too busy telling everyone that the time was now to buy a home.

Personally, I would think a bigger money grab would be a program that had a higher price tag that did nothing for you. We have plenty of those in our industry where peeps are paying hundreds of dollars in promises of REO listings and they receive nary a one.

This program did not put a gun to my hed and ask me to join. It was voluntary, I made money from BPO providers that found me on the site. While I had done many a BPO before joining, I did learn some things from the program. Not to mention, they are working on behalf of the BPO industry.

So, I have to disagree with you. I never understand why people stop and throw stones at topics they are not involved in.

Ditto.

I don't look forward to taking the re-certification test again, but I will. If I felt that it had done me no good, and was doing the industry no good, no way would I put myself through that test again.

[quote=alie80]I agree with MountainBPO, I have a problem with an association having partners which are BPO companies. I renewed when nabpop had company looking for agents in June. Nabpop stated they were paying high fees and quick payment. Well now it is July, no work, high pay was 50 dollars and nabpop wants promises servicers basically an appraisal. When need n association who represents us not the servicers. Never again [/quote]

I personally know the owner of NABPOP and feel that he is doing a phenomenal job with the organization. Keep in mind that with BPO volume being way down nationwide, everyone is suffering. The BPO mills are being corned by their clients requiring that the mills take a cut in fees, thus this trickles down to the ones performing the work, etc.

I feel that by people supporting this upstanding organization you are ensuring the long-term success of being able to stay in this business. They are one of the few organizations out there lobbying on behalf of BPO agents and working hard to standardize important things in the industry. I think that Michael is doing a much needed service for everyone doing BPO work....but this is just my two cents!

Warmly,
Nicole Ocean

I finally passed it! Yayyyyyy me. I dont know why that was so hard for me. I passed the original on the 2nd try. Ok now Im going to go drink something alcoholic.

It's funny to me that I have not joined/payed money too, Nabpop but EML calls me and asks me what fee I need to complete orders. I am in a very large market area and I would think EML would have Nabpop members to do there orders.

I am not joining Nabpop unless EML or others offer to pay for it.

Maybe that's why it was so hard. I'm just saying!

Thank you for your kind response.... Im just saying.

I just passed that short CCT test aka Current Certification Test, and I don't see where it states that's good for another year. My Primary Certification (PCT) was taken on 7/20/2010, I had 95% score and it said that's good for one year.

I'm confused now: was that the right test I took (CCT) before the expriration? May be I need to call NABPOP tomorrow to clarify. Thank you for any feedbacks!

The CCT test is the one you take when your current membership is expiring. You took the right one.
Texas- Congrats to you on passing....I drank a couple when I finished as well....just saying...

I just joined NABPOP and passed on the 2nd try. I think the answer choices should only have a A-D response option, as that is how the RE Sales Associates tests are given. Still, happy to get that out of the way.


Now I get my Realtor magazine yesterday and now NAR has a BPO certfication program. Wow.

I think we discovered that NAR's BPO certification is part of the ABR program.