Just wondering what your thoughts are on the upcoming 2012 Bpo season....this year has been tough with slowing orders and begging people to pay up! I wish it would be like it used to but I don't see that happening soon, do you?

*Forecast*

Nobody on this forum knows, so your guess is as good as anyone else to be honest.

I would imagine were all hoping for more more more.

Here is my BIG guess. It involves several things being resolved. First, the banks have got to figure out how to deal with all the claims currently filed by the States Attorney Generals about robo signing. Banks still are not foreclosing because every loan they have written comes under the microscope and they all were practicing robo signing. Right now, they are trying to figure out if a monetary settlement would include the promise that once they banks pay, they can not be pursued for past robo signing issues. The figure being thrown around is 20 billion. Write the check and they are off the hook for all of it. The attorney generals don't like this deal. Second, we have all the bank CEOs and CFOs that had knowledge the loans they were selling should not have been rated as "A" paper, they should have been toilet paper. Who knows where that will go. Third, Fannie is suing about 17 banks for this same thing, stating that the banks knew the loans they wrote were crap, but passed them onto Fannie as gold. And Fourth, the major players at Fannie were doing the same thing, creating even more charges of fraud.
Will 2012 be different? I think so. I have consulted the Magic 8 ball on my desk (its how I make all my big predictions). The banks are gonna let these propeties sit, not take them back, they are going to keep going vacant, and as we are all starting to see, create entire city blocks of vacant, boarded houses. The cities are gonna start screaming - they already are - and the attorney generals are gonna have to compromise with the banks to get something done with all the vacant houses. Only the banks know how many houses this involves - I think it is a much bigger number then anyone knows. Next time you are out driving around, write down a couple addresses and check the deeds. Most of them are not owned by the banks, but still owned by individuals. Its a waiting game, the banks are just gonna sit there and wait for someone to say, ok, write a check, say you're sorry, and take care of these houses. The Magic 8 ball agrees.

My prediction is that all BPOs will come to end at the first of the year. SO in preperatuion, all agents in my area doing them shouldnt pat their dues and find other work.

Just in New York, or everywhere? Why do you feel this way?

We are already starting to see companies increasing their property inspections. I believe this is to evaluate and place in a hold position, distressed homes that are still owner occupied,but being cared for. These homes they won't be a priority for foreclosure. A recent study showed approx 14,000,000 home mortgages that are 125% or more LTV. We will have foreclosures for years to come, and the BPO's to value them as well.

I believe it was "tongue in cheek" thus the 'agents in my area shouldnt pay their dues and find other work", ie...more work for him.

No way ! Things are ramping up now and I am almost working at my max again after a 1.5 yr slump. I think you will see another 40-50% increase in 2012

December was one of my best months in over 2 yrs. Hopefully this is an indication that orders will increase for 2012.

Got it. Read it quickly and thought he was serious : )

More of the same stuf. Tougher restrictions, lowering of fees, fewer companies handling the bulk of the workload. At some point, banks are going to figure out a way to do these orders themselves, like Ocwen did with their listings.

Then again, I've been saying all this for a while. Have not been proved wrong yet.

I don't want to sit here and play "doomsday prophet", but I don't see it getting any better. The REO listing fees continue to drop along with the BPO fees. Fuel costs are still high and the list just goes on and on. I've had one major trip to the hospital back in April, compliments of 911, 3 surguries that followed, and still can't get back to 100%. I'm going to be making some major decisions during the first quarter of 2012. I'm still making a decent living but have had to put in a ton of hours to make that happen. I've upsized and downsized my team so many times that I've lost count. During my April episode, all 4 of my kids were here one at a time, trying to get pop well. My youngest wound up in tears and asked when was I going to retire? It might have had something to do with me doing interiors in a walker. I told him, "if I can walk, I can work"...........kind of stupid I know.
I love this business and it's kind of hard to give up. Currently, I'm back to 70/80 hours a week......shooting for 20 hour weeks.
Back in April, I had my wakeup call. I intend to spend a lot more time with my kids and grand kids. I have to say I have never felt more intense love in my entire life as I did from my kids during that period. It was a "get Pop well watch" and not a "death watch". I will never forget it, nor will I ever be able to pay them back.

Best of luck, gang, to the 2012 season.

Candy - so glad you are on the mend and trying to shift your focus to family. I also have been looking at what I do and the stress it causes my body. I am 46 and when I was younger never gave much thought to smoking, drinking gallons of coffee and eating junk, and not getting any exercise. Our job is about how much we hustle, response time and problem solving. It takes its toll. While everyone around me is impressed with the level of my business, I know how it is effecting me. I am changing how I eat, limited my coffee intake, starting to exercise, and for the first time since I started smoking again, planning out the quiting process. I have a beautiful grandson who is 5, two sons who are 26 and 18 and I would like to be around for a very long time. I have stopped answering my phone after 6pm, emails get returned in the morning, and I take at least one day totally off on the weekends. My work still gets done, maybe even with a higher level of quality. The companies and banks we work for will push us until we fall over, and I for one am not going to work like that anymore. I'm much happier, I have fired companies that do not have any respect for what we do, or are just unrealistic. I will sell their assets, but when I start to feel walked on, bye bye.