I just joined a second MLS and had a question. This MLS doesn't have a function to find or exclude REO properties like my other one. If you have an order that does not want you to use REO properties or wants you to identify them, how can you do this without this function? Do you just put a "disclosure" that it is unknown if any of the comps are REOs??

Hi Makin Money, Our MLS does not indicate REO either. I look at each comp for agent comments. They will usually indicate if property is distressed etc. If listing states contact owner for access, you know it's not an REO etc. I also try county assessor's office or call the listing agent.

Thanks for your response. Wow. Calling around and looking up all the comps through the assessor seems like a lot of extra work. I can understand why the MLS may not want the info "out there" but it is public record so I don't understand what the big deal is. Also, sometimes they ask how many REOs are in the neighborhood. Do you really look up all the actives or just take an educated guess? I think I will be guessing. I could have an extra 1/2 hour wrapped up into each order. Thanks for your input.

REO's haven't been the thing in my market, so I always just put No and 0... but that's changing (obviously there are some REO's but not many) increasing, I don't know what I'm gonna do.

But I'm not gonna add 2 hours work to a $40 job... we all know which comps are POS (distressed, poor condition) that's what's needed.

We'll see how it shakes out.

Our MLS doesn't identify them either. I have to look at the actives and based on the listing agent, the comments, etc I can usually determine if it is an REO or not. When asked how many REOs are in a neighborhood, I do look at all of the actives and get a number.

# of REOs in neighborhood= combination of educated guess and what Ohio said. Gary are you getting $40 jobs?

That's fairly typical for SourceNet/First American Residential. $40 is their base fee.

Steele in Minnesota

Yep I get lots of $40 jobs from FARVV OUT. I take them on my route to somewhere else. If its out of the way I ignore it till they call and get a reasonable fee. It's not ideal but it works for me.

I have an automatic MLS search that looks for the words "bank owned" or "REO". That gets many of them. I also modified Outlook to be able to search the MLS for any contact's address.

As some of you know, I keep every pre-foreclosure listing in Outlook. So once a week or so, I run the MLS search against every contact. The ones that are now in the MLS and WERE in foreclosure are most likely REOs.

I just tried something with our MLS. Under the keyword search under remarks, or realtor remarks, type in "as is". About 95% of the listings returned were foreclosures. This is a real good start.

This is not the right spot for this post but I want to vent for a minute. Your friends above called me today to do a BPO about 100 miles + round trip away from me. It is outside my county. When I told them that I cannot access the MLS for that county he argued with me telling me that I can search at least 40 miles from my home etc. I finally said listen I have been a Realtor for quite some time and I think I know where I can and cannot search and Amador county is not in my MLS.....
I have turned the same BPO down for about a month now. Each time letting them know that it is outside my coverage area. The last time I told them it takes me a whole day to go there and I have to scrape for comps. They offered me an additional $10.
Sorry for the vent here. I am with you Gary, If it's convenient I'll do it.

When searching for comps, I scan the Agent Remarks AND the Disclosures category to see if it says foreclosure or corporate owned.

To determine the amount of foreclosures in a neighborhood I choose foreclosure under the disclosures category. That gives a fairly accurate estimate. Our software changed in Houston a few years ago and we only have a drop down list to choose from now.