paying independent contractors hourly is very common. I'm not aware of any law that makes this undesirable for the employer. the important tests for employee vs. IC status are typically not based on the method of payment, but rather the degree of control the employer exercises over the worker.

Wow...and what does this friend do when he signs these reports saying HE took the photos, HE pulled the comps,and HE certifies this is his work. Greedy and lying. Not good.

Wow! Don't know how I missed this post. smh

If I'm bitter, I need to do something else, period. Life is too short to spend it with heartburn. When I stop getting a kick out of doing bpos, then I will quit them.

"stop getting a kick out of doing BPO's"........I like your approach......Mine is a tad different......."when BPO's start kicking me".......I guess either one would work....lol.

and I'm sure he always give the clients exactly what they want. way too much liability.

12 step.
I meant 1000 a week but my math is still way off.

Regarding the "I did it all myself" scenario.
My assistants are sent these BPOs directly. Hence the party that it was assigned to actually did it. However, not all companies require the assigned agent actually perform the BPO. While single Source, IAS and a few others have that requirement, many of those are also a PIA. Perhaps if IAS actually paid in a timely manner they'd be in a position to determine who does what. My question back at them just before I fired them was, "Will the party assigning be the party paying".
Regarding giving them what they want: There are those companies out there that seem to delight in trying to steer our values. They may not get what they want since I give them MY opinion of value not THEIR opinion of value. I just won't work for them. The companies that want THE AGENTS opinion of value, get just that. The fact that the clients continue to return would indicate some level of satisfaction.
In any event, I tend to focus on REOs and not BPOs, but those companies my assistants work for aren't of the 30-40 dollar mold. It almost seems that the lower the pay, the slower the payment and the more demanding or manipulative the QC is. Someone else is welcome to chase those assignments.

I was just going to post that same thing. I would say, if I work for 10 companies right now, at least 5 of them dont care, they just want a good report. I got no issues with what JackREO said.

So Jack your friend does 1,000 bpo's for 7 each??

That's only 7,000 a month.After you take away drive time,gas,batteries,paper,and paying others to help you the return is next to nothing for the work involved.

I wouldn't call that a job but SLAVERY for those rates.

I know some people do not like regular R.E. sales but I would take one of those over doing 1,000 bpo's a month to make the same return.

My interpretation of Jacks message was that those fees you mentioned were already deducted and thathe $7 was his net per order.

His staff does them all. If the average is 45 bucks each, 38 is expense and the 7 is his net after all the expenses.
Also, it's an add on to his busy REO business.
While I really don't have the ability or inclination to run an operation like that, my own business model is, 10 bucks for me and the rest to the licensed party performing the BPO if it's a company I hooked them up with. If it's a company they found on their own, I don't take anything. The BPOs are not their or my sole source of income. Rather it's as a supplement to REO sales. Some are salaried staff and some focus on sales. Thus in addition to a decent living they can pick up some extra cash. Plus they help each other out when one gets overloaded and they help me out with property inspections.
I will also add that the BPOs they handle average about $50 per. No low pay, slow pay, no pay mills, no sign up fees and if QC starts trying to manipulate values we drop them. One other important note here. The companies know I'm not out performing the work and we've established long term relationships that, in some cases, go back over 15 years. If they can accept that, fine, if not, get someone else. There are plenty out there. Perhaps that's why I'll never reach the 1000 a week figure. We're fussy with who we work for and we cherry pick the prime banks.

ISGN threw a BoA exterior at me today for $25. I threw it back and in the comment section I said "Go Fish". Now, I'm hearing that one of the new start up companies are fishing at $15. Last week, I received an exterior due in 3 days and paid $75.....life ain't all bad.

Your attitude is so typical of modern society. "I don't have to follow the rules because......(insert reason here)". It doesn't matter ONE BIT! If you say YOU did the work, you need to do the work. And if you don't like a company or agree with them, then you need to NOT work for them.

$15? What a joke. We have an agent around here who will work for nothing, and is contributing to these lower fees, very frustrating.

12 step.
I believe you misunderstood my point. Many companies send the work directly to my staff. Hence the work IS performed by the party it was assigned to if that's the clients requirement. However, most of my clients don't have that requirement, know we have staff performing the work, and have no issue with it.
It's not a matter of bending rules, it's a matter of picking and chosing clients that don't have overly restrictive requirements. Thus I do follow the "rules" as you put it and if I don't agree with the rules, I just don't work with those outfits.

At a GSE meeting a senior AM asked a few of us how many assignments we were carrying. The answers were all in the triple digit range. Her follow up question was how many staff we had. The thrust was that she did not want one agent getting a headache to cause production to stop. The point being, not only did she approve of staff, she required it.

Hiring staff costs money. Some are not in a position to afford that or they have no faith in anyone's ability but their own. In my opinion, it's the height of arrogance to belive I'm the only person capable of performing accurately. If I were to hire you...would you suddenly become incompetent? Of course not, and if the client is informed and approves there is no problem.

I don't make the rules. If I don't like the way a client does business I just don't work with them. And it's not just the rules that govern that decision. It's payment amount, timely payment, mutual respect and the possibility of gaining listings. Further it seems that many of the most demanding clients are also the slowest to pay if at all, have inexperienced and often manipulative QC, and the lowest fees.

There are always those that will allow themselves to be walked all over. I'm just not one of them. But all here are entitled to earn a living, the difference may be one's definition of "earning a living".

12 Step--Did you read this part below?