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.

Just in my area I've been seeing more and more BPO requests from mills go unaccepted. I'm thinking that it's the level of difficulty that my area represents--- no "cookie cutters", long travel distances, few useful comps according to the "enhanced" guidelines for BPOs from most companies; AND the severely decreased fees.

The local REO queen is still doing them (not herself, but her agents and helpers), and I'd have to think that they're a big loss to her in terms of getting paid for them and having to pay agents to do them. I'm sure that the "fear factor" of not continuing to receive assets is her prime motivator.

I'd like to think that what I'm seeing tolls the bell for the mills-- makes it increasingly harder for them to stay in business; but, my area is small, and they could be doing just fine in big markets. So, they'll continue to apply more and more pressure on agents.

IMO if a person, say a neighborhood bully, or a violent gang, or a BPO company isn't stopped by "police action" (laws) from victimizing people (not paying agents for work, or making it impossible for them to perform work and get paid by impossible QC demands, or requiring them to falsify results AFTER work is performed with the threat of nonpayment, or changing reports with the agent's name on them), they are incentivized to even more egregious acts. So, IMO, it won't get any better.

I will add that December was my best month for BPO's in all of 2011. However I am at 60% of December 2010. I hope 2012 brings busier months, because I plan on saving as much money as I possibly can over the next 12 months for my out of state move.

Candyman..very glad to hear you are on the mend..Family is the most important thing..I have 3 sisters and the four of just did a get better watch with my father this year but sadly we lost him in July..My heart is broken and I can't explain the pain it brings to a child(even though I am a grown woman) when they loose their parent. I have lost a child so I am no stranger to death of loved one and I thought I would be prepared more for this but they both are similar yet very different but something that you never truly get over. Sorry to rant folks but I do hope each and everyone of you cherish your family and spend as much time with them as you can because time is something that you can never get back...
Now back to the bpos..for all of you that have said December has been the busiest month for you so far..well that is because it is year end and banks are trying to close out their books...it happens every year in december..I have been out of BPOs for a while due to the health of one of our sons..he had cancer(but is a survivor and is considered cured this May) but I work for one of the bpo companies as a reviewer. I see lots of bpos coming through across the country but in saying that I know you have all suffered a decrease in fees for the bpos( I know I used to get $75-100 per bpo) I see several states with high levels of orders and then some with very few bpos..the banks are requiring more and more on each report but pay less and less for the report..I have a soft side for all you agents out there completing the reports because I know what it is like to complete the order from the time you receive the report to the time you submit the report..There are many reviewers that have never had any real estate experience at all and I see how they have no understanding for the hard work and stress that these reports can be..not just finding comps but the travels that you all take and the risks you are under when attempting to take the photos..I would love for just one time for them to go out and try to get the photos of a house in a high crime area or even just one that is under foreclosure and has a disgruntle homeowner come chasing after them...I bet they wouldnt be so quick to reject those BPOs to you or would find a nicer way of asking for corrections..I wish safety and prosperity for all of you out there trying to make a living at this and I hope we all see a major upswing in our markets that creates a wealth for us all..I would love to be back out in the field completing BPOs and selling REOs but in the meantime I will keep you all in my thoughts and prayers..Happy New Years to all and I wish you all great Prosperity in all you do but most of all I wish you all happiness and good health spent with loving families...Sorry so long...;0)

It's really odd, but we put together our 2011 final numbers yesterday. They were within 2% of 2010's.
And oddly enough, December was our 3rd best month, even though we stopped taking work on Dec 17th and went to France for 11 days.
I don't see any major changes in 2012.

Hello everyone, I'm new to this forum. I'm an agent in Florida. I've been agent in for over 6 years. I've been doing BPOs for about 3 years. I understand a lot of the frustrations we go thru as agents. We really should stick together more rather than hide from each other info and let these banks and mills play us like easily replaceable objects.

My thoughts on 2012. I believe things will be more of the same like 2011. The banks need to get their lawsuits and issues taken care of. The robo signing issues is one of them, Farvv is getting sued for bad BPOs and they were one of the biggest companies out there. Fannie mae is not yet off the hook.. and ect..

Don't forget we have an election this year, so that will definitely affect our default market. You will not see huge volumes of BPOs but there will be enough work to make 1k-6k per month depending which market you're in and how many companies you are sign up with.

Let's be honest BPOs will not truly pick up again in volume until between end of 2012 and beginning of 2013.

Once all issues are rectified orders will be back to what they were, staggering levels.