Actually, she did not request me to...she assumed I would.

Trying to arrange access on a BPO. The property is tenant occupied. I am texting back and forth, checking status, listing agent updating me, etc. Then, I get a text tonight stating they(agent and owner) are presenting this to the tenants as an insurance agent stopping by as roof damage was done during a storm last year. The text says, "please tell tenants you are insurance agent" Please just go in the morning and do that..yeah, sure I will.
In other words,. "Please compromise your integrity on behalf of my client, that way he can keep collecting rent money from his tenants that are in the dark".
I told her I would absolutely not do that and was surprised that she just assumed I would. Why the Hell would I lie for her and her owner? I get increasingly annoyed with agents in this biz. I would never ask, nor assume, for an agent to lie on behalf of my client.....BS.

Since you are employed by someone else (a mill or a lender) I would let that party know what is going on and take guidance from them. I recently refused to enter an REO property that had water up to the 2nd floor during the local flooding of Labor Day week. The contact (another agent) told me that she had opened to door a week or so after the flooding and gone no further into the property.

The mill said they would reassign. I told the mill that was irresponsible to expose anyone to environmental hazards and they finally relented, notified the lender and it's still on hold. Heck every house on this block has applied for FEMA funds since none are liveable.

At the end of the day, all we have is our integrity and beliefs. I won't allow anyone to make me compromise them.

The entire exchange with the agent bothered me. It was assumed that I would be fine misrepresenting myself. Obviously, I am not and told her so. this was all done via text.I have not read the COE for some time, but I would have to think this is violating a pie ce of that. It is bothersome how easily some can just toss integrity aside and the expectation is that we should just do the same.

I agree. but how/why do you think the mortgage meltdown happened a few years ago? It didn't happen by accident. It's pretty much the norm in the financial industry. and if you don't go with the flow...you're OUT, blacklisted, discarded, dirty laundry.

I would not care what owner is cooking as it does not concern me at all!
I am trying to get in and do BPO!
What scheme owner is trying to do is not my business!
BPO company will not care for your reason and will want you to go in and do it.
You do not want to start war !
Just do it!
In most instances I play ignorance and not knowing what is going on even as it was disclosed to me as I do not want to get engaged between owner, tenants, client or company I am doing BPO for!

I do not care what the owner is doing either. I do not want to start a war either, so far we are in agreement. So, you go in and identify yourself as an insurance agent as requested? that does not bother you? I will not access any property under a guise of misrepresenting myself. The mill I am doing this order for will have my back on that.That is where we disagree. The BPO company will have my back on this. If you would seriously misrepresent yourself, your agency and what you do..you really have some issues with ethics. I do appreciate your take and this is why I threw this topic up. If I have to misrepresent myself and lie, I am not going to do the order. I have done 4000 orders for this mill, I know them pretty well by now. @RealBoots, you guys have a code of ethics where you practice?

Also curious, when you identify yourself as an insurance agent and they ask for a card, what do you do then...lie further?

The only thing I will add is I have had a LA on a interior BPO being used as a rental tell me to tell the tenant to say I was there for insurance purposes solely because they did not want the tenant to know the property was for sale. I can understand that, as a tenant could "freak" thinking a new buyer will possibly raise the rent or be unwilling to renew the lease. They are usually interior multi-family properties.

On those instances I have agreed to play along, but was never questioned in any of those cases by the occupying tenants. So at the end of the day, it turned out to be a mute point.....

It's all case by case, with my needed "explanation" never being one that would effect my purpose for being there which is determined value.

Maybe I am in the minority....

It depends on if you are talking residential or commercial properties.

In residential a sign is almost always out front for sale.

In commercial if you don't work in that arena you would not know that many sellers do NOT put a sign out for sale and the property is shown by APPOINTMENT only unless we are talking commercial raw land for development or is already being built in a stage of construction.Some properties are not even listed but are solicited "off market" for sale.I do this sometimes for clients that want a private sale.

I see signs listed for sale by idiot agents all the time that do not know commercial real estate.They slap this vanity sign out there and then all the customers for the business or for the development gets freaked out.If a business customers fear the new owner will not be as pleasant as the new one or will raise prices so they make a change before it happens.

With Multifamily tenants the think all kinds of things.We have used the insurance bit when showing properties before for sale.The seller has a rite for the tenants to not know a property is for sale.

Another one you can use is this if you don't like the insurance one. "The bank from time to time will want an inspection and valuation completed that holds the mortgage on the property"

The "I work for the bank" has worked every time I have used it.

If a BPO broker/agent would not follow the instructions of the seller I would not let them inside of a commercial property.

I understand you want to follow your clients instructions for a small report fee but I wouldn't as a seller jeopardize info leaking to tenants I don't want them to have.

If this seller does not want the tenants to know they are facing foreclosure then the seller can simply DENY access for the interior inspection to buy more time and collect the rents before foreclosing.( I know it's not ethical,etc.) I deal in real world situations.

If tenants get wind of a foreclosure then they feel they do not have to pay anymore etc. even if they are staying there.A landlord can go after them but will not collect usually before getting foreclosed on.This is why a seller doesn't want to let the foreclosure info out of the bag.

With commercial you are dealing with hostile takeovers,cross collateralization of loans etc. and the stakes are very high to a seller in a default situation.

Its a residential scenario, Thx Super.

I am well aware of why a property owner does not want tenants to know. Honestly, that part is not my concern at all. I was told to go to the property, tell them I am with "The Insurance Company" as the roof had a leak and to get my photos. I was told not to answer any questions.
Short answer, no.
I am just not willing to misrepresent who I am with and what I do. I do about 30-35 of these a week, for years on end and have been able to work around doing that. I understand not volunteering a lot of info that would upset the apple cart, I do not have issues with that. But to go to the door and lie about who I am with, nope.

The landlord hasn't paid the mortgage and the poor tenants may soon be in the street even though THEY'VE paid the landlord rent. Why worry about covering for this borrower? He's taking the tenants money and not paying his mortgage? I wouldn't volunteer any information, but neither would I say I was the insurance adjuster.

If asked, "I'm here to look at the property to give an opinion of value to the landlord's bank". "No, I don't know what the purpose is, but banks send agents out to look at borrowers' properties routinely to see whst current values are routinely".

Same page as I DD- I do not volunteer info when I am doing interiors. But, I am not going to lie, go against what I believe in, so that this guy can squeeze another month or two out of these people. If he does not want me to access the property as an agent, I have no problem with that. I turn the order back in and say I could not gain access and tell the mill what I was asked to do. The BPO mill will not have an issue with thie either. I discussed it with them a while ago...

Super- You stated- "I understand you want to follow your clients instructions for a small fee"...wrong. It has nothing to do with fees, clients, etc. It is ethics, you have them or you don't. Not client related, not money related.

SMG

If asked, I just tell them it's probably a loan mod or a refi. That will pretty much settles them down.

About two weeks ago, I ran the same line when asked by the occupants. They replied, "There was an auction notice posted on the front door a few days ago". I then said, "That's not a good sign". To make a long story short, I turned them into buyers.

smg..I totally agree with your stance, I'm asked by agents with suprising frequency to mislead the clients or the mill, which makes me angry.The code of ethics that agents in my state are supposed to follow is really a joke, as it seems very few actually follow it.

Candy-Did ya read my post at all? This is not about what you say when asked why you are there. It is about identifying yourself. If the listing agent says, "You tell them you are an insurance agent. By no means disclose that yhou are a Realtor" Does that fly with you? I have no problem not discussing why I am valuing the property,often I do not know any way. My problem lies with telling the tenant I am an insurance agent....Would you do that if requested? Others here would and I have been a bit surprised. Others say they work for the bank, BS. If I am told to not disclose that I am a Realtor, I won't do the order.

I hand everyone my business card for occupied properties when I enter. I pay no attention to what agent says, I do not work for them. I also do not volunteer information.

Just to clarify my previous post in this thread, I would never agree to go along telling someone that I was an actual insurance agent. I would go along (if asked) confirming that the insurance company wants a condition report on the property, thus my reason for doing interior photos.

While the lie might be deemed as splitting hairs, it does put the tenants at more ease. As stated before, I've yet had to actually use it but on more than one occasion it has been asked of me by LAs on tenant occuppied properties.

Where I struggle is the ensuing questions that may follow the initial question. Sometimes I am not asked any questions, sometimes I am questioned quite a bit. I was told to in now way divulge I was an agent. I understand why and the only way I can support that is by not going or by going when they are not home. I do not want to get into the "What insurance company you with?" and further lines of questioning. They might not even occur, if they do I do not care to keep going down that road. The other liine of, "I am with the bank" is a bold faced lie. It is just not necessary, I have not had to do that. Been able to do this successfully for some time without going there.

I wouldn't misrepresent myself but neither would I chat with the tenants as to the purpose of the BPO.

If they start asking questions I just say "Sorry, I can't discuss that, it's confidential."

I had a similar experience. I had an interior that was boarded with condemned signs on it. The signs clearly stated that NO ONE was to enter - no exceptions, under penalty of a misdemeanor. I took a photo of the sign and sent it to my rep. She said that it was still OK to enter. When I told her I wasn't going to break the law - or have to defend myself in court for doing so, she reassinged the order. Not canceled, but reassinged. And I'm sure she found some desparate agent to go and take interior photos.

SMG

Yes, I read your post and just gave you a shorter version of what most have been saying. I didn't mean to upset you. I've had agents give me comps. I've had agents state they need a certain price. If an agent asks me to represent myself that I work for an insurance company, I just nod my head and move on. I believe in the Code of Ethics, and have worked that way my entire career in real estate. When I first meet the occupants, I hand them my business card. The clearly states I'm a Realtor. If asked why I'm doing the BPO, I have a set of canned comments, of which, one will fit the situation. I've been in this business since 1978 and have never lied, period...........My first post was just a shorter version of this post. POC's can say or do what they want. I abide by the Code of Ethics........period.

Nope, wasn't upset. I just didnt see the piece about not identifyoing yourself as a Realtor. That was the only heatburn this gave me. You cleared that up and it mirrors my stance. Thx Candy.

I would go to door and state that I was here to do the inspection. If the tenant is trying to figure out why? Say something like is there any damage to this property. This throws them off and start taking pictures of what they happily will show you.
If the press you, just say: I am not sure why I am here and I do these without being biased and influenced by the owner.
I say as little as possible to anyone I deal with when performing BPO's. Especially Realtors or 3rd party short sale folks.
They can't quote me on anything

This is an exact example of what I won't do. This would be a bold face lie. Nothing could be further from the truth(in my case). Might not be a lie in your case Super, maybe you were working for the bank.