Anyone heard/had any dealing with Residential Real Estate Review Inc. out of Hatboro, PA? Received a rush BPO out of the blue and am second guessing myself for taking it w/o doing research. Help!

I have have done several, they have paid on time.

Good stable company, Pays quickly.

The are a servicer and do not directly supply REO's but the people they work for often contact the BPO source for REO evaluations and listing.

Only think I dislike about them is the way they pay with out direct identification of what properties the check is for.... you have to go back and pull up e-mail to find what properties are in the payment batch.

Yep, I've done some for them as well. They pay!!!!!!!!!!!

I used to do quite a few for them but then they dropped what they would pay, I won't drop what I charge for my service though!

I do a lot of work for them. They usually within a couple weeks. Decent people to work with.

I have done work for them and pay fairly quickly, but as stated above they don't do a good job of identifying what property the check is for.

Very good company, I've done plenty of orders for them.

Well it depends...

If you're near me, they're an awful awful company, stay far away.

Otherwise they pay fast, pay well and have a reasonable form (well, it's a bit of a pain, but not too bad).

RRReview seems to be ducking my questions, so I'll ask you BPO/REO specialists. It could be nothing though. In their Accept/Decline email workorder, what does the term High Risk Area actually mean or indicate? I know what it meant in the USAF, and that was injury or death is possible. Hey, just curious because none of my other 6 BPO/REO companies use that terminology.

They put "high risk area" on every bpo order. It means that if you don't complete it within 24 hours..even though your due date says 7 days for completion...they will hound you to death every 5 minutes until you finish.

Thanks

LOL! That term is only on my orders that want REO comps. I assume the "high risk area" is an area that they have determined to have a lot of REOs and the values are potentially going to be driven by REOs.

My biggest problem with RRR is their lack of communication. They have never responded to any of my emails.....I repeat..never. I always have to call them direct....I called on an issue about a week ago.....the lady I was talking to spoke perfect english.....thought we were good to go.....wrong..... their fire alarm went off and they had to evacuate their building.....just my luck. I only use their orders as fillers as they only pay $40 for exteriors. If I have work in the araa where their property is located I take it....if not, I pass. I use to just take the order and hope other work would come from other companies....that never seemed to work out....if their order was going east all my other orders were going west. I tried that for 2 months and found it was a loosing proposition. They pay fairly quick but, again, only $40 for exteriors..

Here's a little known tip. Accept the order and then call the toll-free and ask for a increase. It generally works. You can also increase your fee in your profile.

*WARNING* This may not work in all areas. It works in mine because few agents are signed up with them.

I understand RRR gives listings. Is this true? And what is the trick to reaching someone of authority to ask for the listing? The orders I get are anonymous...no contact name is given. I have gotten many interiors but no listings.

Thanks for the tip. I'll try it.

RRR doesn't give listings.... if a listing comes from a BPO done through RRR its from the compay who has requested the BPO. They contact you via your contact information on the completed BPO form.

I got a call from these people for wanting me to to do a exterior rush for $40 like 5-6 months ago, I said no the fees to low, they said ok bye. Today after such a long time, they assigned me a $50 exterior that is near me and not too hard to comp, so I accepted it.

Do they always offer $40 for exteriors? Main thing I like about them so far is they assign orders, but I still won't do orders for $40. Can't say I like their form too much though...

Yes, $40 is the standard here in my area in Florida. You may be able to get them to $50, but most of the time they will just move on to another agent that will do them for $40 if you won't.

Thanks for the reply Justine, Where in FL are you from? I'm in mickey mouse town.

Anyways that's fine with me, I'm not holding my breathe for their orders. If they send them thats fine, if they send me lowballs I'll decline and I'll accept my normal orders from other companies who want quality reports.

I do the $40 orders and give quality work. Business is business and $40 an hour looks pretty good in my neck of the woods. The forms are long but I have never heard from QC and the checks come regularly. To each his own.

I am in the panhandle HR

I'm getting quite a few orders from them but I am assuming I get them because my fee is lower ( don't even ask!) but now that I have done quite a few,I'm wondering if I can up the ante. Unfortunately, I think not.........it's not that I'm doing good work......it's that I'm $1 below what is customary in my area that I am getting the orders...or will this change with time and experience?!

Personally I like them. Pay Quick.

Char - RRR has no loyalty in my area and it doesn't matter how long you've been doing BPOs for them. If you raise your price, you risk not getting any more orders. I get orders from them from time to time, but nothing regular because I never lowered my fees as low as others in my area did. Obviously I can't speak for other areas, but that is what I have seen in my area.

Thanks for the advice OhAgent I'll hold and ride the wave!

OMG! My first bpo with them, and my negatives are out weighting the positives...

I got a short sale drive by. The list price is $7k lower than my BPO value, so it's not letting me turn it in, I e-mailed the person that sent the due date for the BPO. No reply back, instead I get another e-mail from someone else saying your BPO is incomplete for blah blah reasons..

I e-mailed him back and explained the situation, he replied with I resetted your password to 1234. WTF??

Long story short , he finally READ the e-mail and said I forwarded it to our clients.

Do I just wait for their response?

I tried calling them, I just get a busy type tone when I put the extention..?? Makes me miss my CC orders =(

this is a BAD company to work for. Yes, they pay, but there is no loyalty, very few of their reps understand English or what to say if you ask them a question not on their "cheat sheet", and they CONSTANTLY NAG you for orders even if it is not due for 4 days.

I don't get a ton from this company, but have never been nagged by them either & they do pay!

Oooops - posted response in wrong thread. I have never had an issue with RRR.

I received my first BPO from RRReview last week. Do you have to call them each week to receive more orders?

No, once you're in their system they will send you requests. RRR is the first company I ever worked for and they are still one of my favorites, but I get very few requests from them anymore. I'm not lowering my fees--they've been the same for 5 years, despite the fact that gas has done what it has and many of these require some distance driving.

Don't worry about calling them---they will definitely be calling you!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

They are a great with turn around payment....just not my favorite to deal with on communication

LOL!

I just started doing BPO and I've been getting quite a few from RRReview. The previous ones have been Exterior BPO's and I finally got an Interior BPO. :)
But I have a question that I can't seem to resolve. According to their instructions -
"REO COMPS - Utilize REO comparables that best represent REO market conditions, as long as they meet the following: a) in the subject neighborhood, reasonable proximity, or competing neighborhood, b) comparable property subject to reasonable adjustment, c) exposed to market for a reasonable period, d) sold comparables dated within 6 months."

OK. I understand thgis but the only way I know of even trying to locate only REO listing in my MLS (Trend) is to utilize the Remarks field. What would I use as a search term? I know that many agents don't give all of the information in the descriptions.

Do you know the area well? Are there a lot of REOs near the subject property and in surrounding neighborhoods? You would have to use your knowledge of the area to answer the REO questions if your MLS does not clearly include/exclue REOs. Call your MLS and suggest they add that field.

If you don't know the area, try asking your fellow agents/broker about the surrounding area. Tax records can let you know if homes on the same block are bank-owned.

Surely owner name is a field in your MLS...

Or a disclosures field where you can search for "no disclosures" or "corporate seller"

What a understatement.......I'm still laughing.....

I received an order a few weeks back and decided to take care of the phone call issue......I had it back to them in less than 24 hours....thus, no call. I had one slide in on me last week when I had just got hit with a ton of orders from other companies. It was the last one on the pile. My intent was to get it back to them by Sunday....no such luck.....but, Monday worked.....now, here's the kicker.....order was 5 days old with two days to go.....no emails and no phone calls....go figure.....lol. If this is their new policy send me more.

I have no reliable method to use in our MLS, either. Most agents put "Client" in the owner field, and a great many put anything that indicates a f/c or short in the Confidential Agent Remarks. Makes it hit or miss for me, too.

Then there is our beloved REO Queen (I really do like her)-- she puts Bank Owned/Lender Owned/Short Sale in an unused address field at the very top.

I've had good luck with them, and they pay quickly. They asked me to do an interior on a foreclosed property a half hour away. I was busy and told them my price. I really didn't want to take the time to do it, but I named my price for the rush order and they took it. I also got my check in about two weeks.

I like RRR very much, no QC issues & quick pay. 1 photo or they pay more. RE: searching REO, I use terms such as Bank Owned, Corporate, Addendum, Bank, Foreclosure. Those terms usually produce the most. I always state, per MLS @.............whatever the search results.

Then use those terms from the REO queen. I also have an REO queen in my area. They don't like to put the name of the bank in case others research it,or so I think. Just customize your search and see what comes up. In my area we are so rural we have to take what we can get. What area are you in? PM ME me.

I want to thank everyone for their input, I appreciate it.
Lastly, I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving.

In my area, I can usually find foreclosures on the MLS by searching "corp" in the owner field. Some agents put "bank" as the owner. That gets most of them anyhow.

Here's how I understand it: They want REOs if the area is REO driven. So you can't know if that particular area is REO driven if you are trying to ONLY pull REO comps.

Pull comps as normal, and then when you go through them you can figure out the prevalence of REOs. THEN you can separate out REOs or Fair Markets.

If it's not REO driven, don't kill yourself trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat - that's NOT what they are asking for!

I was lucky to make out that was who was calling on a recent 'phone message, couldn't make out enough of the rest of to even return the call. I much prefer e-mail as the method of contact anyway.

100% agreed.

Shockingly someone from there called me the other day that I could actually understand! I think she may have actually been calling me from the U.S. too. I don't do much work for them, and when I do I often wonder if it is worth it.

I adore RRR. They are in my top 5.

They were in my top 5 too, but that was several years ago before they went half way around the world to find cheap help that neither know the business nor speak the language. I rarely do anything for them anymore.

That can change. CC was once in my top 3. And now they hardly love me at all. I get 1/3 what I use to get from them. They are now in my top 5. Next week RRR could move to my top ten. Ya never know. Tis why it's good to be signed up with a boatload of companies. I know you know this too.
For me, I adore whoever is sending me the most orders in any given week. It could be Protek tomorrow. Crazy, I know.

Had the same experience. Full American accent. I tried to negotiate the fee but the rep told me they had MANY agents willing to accept the standard fee To me, I think the form is pretty time consuming due to its layout.

I used to do quite a bit for Review 5-6 years ago, and yes I did recieve many listings BECAUSE OF DOING THEIR BPO'S!. RRREVIEW is a sister company for Select Portfolio Services formally known as Fairbanks capitol.
THE PAY IS LOW AND THE OUTSOURCED HELP WILL BUG YOU TO DEATH BUT THEY DO PAY AND PAY ON TIME.

I just got my first BPO from them, seems easy enough, it is close, going to take the 1 pic tomorrow with my other runs, form looks easy and I hope they send me more, as long as they are on the way for other BPO's I do with other companies, I don't mind.

Key with them, do it right away, or else they will drive you mad with phone calls and emails reminding you to get it done.

LOL Rose, that seems to be the case with the post I have read in this thread. Oh well, what can you do except say, yep, have it done soon, keep sending orders.

I love RRR!
HOWEVERRRRRRREREEREREERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR........
I WISH QC would READ my NOTES goshdarnit!

Do you get the $35 drivebys??

No, they're $40 for me.

The worse thing about slashing your fees is not knowing if you can increase them and still get the work! I cut fees when I started with RRR to get orders, good thing the forms are too bad and they pay quickly. $35 drive bys are a deal for the client not for me!

Ghetto?

I took an order- and yes on the cheap $40 - because it stated only 1 photo and due date of 2/04.

Just received an email to confirm it would be submitted by 2/02 am, and if I didn't reply it would be reassigned.

Grrrr. why waste our time.. I copied and pasted the original order acceptance - explained it could be if a bonus was involved as is common with other asset management companies and let them know that time used to reply to phone calls and emails take away from work time on all orders.

Also - the photos are really standard and only the comp photos are excluded - so Nothing is really saved on my end.

I received an almost instant response though: "Fine have it in by the original date by 2 pm est".

They may be good to work with but this kind of stuff makes them appear - well less then professional.

35 wow that’s crazy ... I thought 40 was absurd ... the long lead times to complete the bpo is the main reason I'll take them

I’ll let them sit until I have reason to go near the subject property .... very rarely do I get burned and have to make a special trip

Pine--that's why I don't work with them anymore. I would typically have 5-10 orders in my queue with them at any one time. They would ALWAYS change the due date on me without telling me. Then, the barrage of phone calls would start. And, by barrage, I mean they would completely tie up my phone lines. I'd hang up with one rep and another one would call on another order. Sometimes, they would start calling me on an interior order less than 2 hours after I had accepted it. It got so bad that I had to stop taking their calls or I couldn't get ANY work done. I don't have time for unprofessional, nagging companies.

I wish some people in my area would get disgusted with them so they would come back to me with orders. I miss them. I guess that someone underbid me, but I won't go any lower.

that's another problem---no loyalty.

No matter where you work, the bottom line is all that matters.

They assign me orders once in a while @ the usual $40 a pop.

Pine - I agree. I asked to be removed from their system yesterday. I could not believe the number of nagging phone calls to confirm status of my $65 interior due 4 days from now. Gave them a verbal update and then they wanted me to e-mail them what I had just verbally told them. Less than 4 hours later another call. I don't mind one call for a status update but any more than that and it's harrassment and I shouldn't have to e-mail to confirm what I verbally told them. I literally had 6 calls and 3 emails in a 2 day period for one order.

If they weren't paying so many people to harrass us for the order, they could actually afford to pay us the going rate.

I won't miss their orders.

I have not experienced this nagging to date. Usually I'll get one phone call the day before the order is due plus an email IF I've not completed it yet. I immediately respond by either posting a picture or emailing back acknowledging their reminder.

I tell them that every time they call or email me, I have to sort through my enormous Pile of TO DOs, and find their stuff . . . . and then when I'm done starring at it for them, I put it back at the BOTTOM of the Pile.

Hounding doesn't really make anyone move faster, nor does filling out the aptly named Daily WIP Reports for Finiti. Maybe hourly Work in Progress Reports would work better.

Oh I forgot the "whipping post" for finiti....LOL...now I remember why I have not worked for them in a while...

Their attempt to get it quicker didn't stop yet - I received 2 more emails asking for it early as if it was suppose to be turned in then.

I know English may not be a first language for the sender, or I hope it is not, because if I really thought they were that obnoxious I would just tell them they had better find someone else to do them.

I do take time to respond to each request though and each time remind them that the time I take to stop work to respond to every one's questions in the end slows their receipt of the order in question.

The last reply I received from them simply stated: "Thank you. Will not disturb you again" which I take as a step in the right direction.

Pine

I think we've all been hit with the emails and phone calls. My approach, late last year, was this. I sent them an email expressing my concern about the harrassing emails and phone calls. I explained to them about the time I loose, each time I have to respond. I also made them aware that I've never been late on an order, and in most case's have completed with plenty of time to spare. I pointed out that any QC issues have been less than one half of a percent of orders received. I clearly stated, in the email, that their fee's are 10 to 20 percent below my norm. I fit their orders in, only if there's enough turn time, so as to fit it into my normal routine. I must have hit a nerve, as the phone calls and emails ceased.

They sent me an exterior about 10 days ago, 48 hour turn time, and $40 fee....I turned it down.......This week, they've been calling me direct, much longer turn times and higher fee's. Their forms are a cake walk......with their adjusted turn times and small increase in fees , we can still continue to do business. I think my statement, in my last email, may have worked. PLEASE, DON'T PLAY ME FOR STUPID.....blunt, but to the point.

Ok...just got a call from them with an exterior and negotiated a price increase from what they were offering. She said she would put it in my queue and send me a confirmation email.

30 minutes passed and still no email and nothing in my queue so I decided to call. I get "sorry we can't take your call at this time, if you would like to leave a message please hit 1"

I hit 1 and I get "sorry we can't take your call at this time, if you would like to leave a message please hit 1"

Ashton, where are you? I know it's you!

He's in India.

BM - they had a bird in the hand and probably went down the list until they found someone else that would work cheaper - the same thing has happened to me.

CM - The last few I have done for RRR have been without incident, 1 email on the last day reminding me it was due - no phone calls. Of course the pay stunk - and they still owe me 20 on an order I negotiated up and actually got, as they paid what they offered originally. My fault, pay was not addresses at all on the acceptance/assignment email and I did it anyway.

Ok update on this one. I finally reached the group overseas and after fumbling around for a few minutes she came back and said that order was canceled. Then she immediately followed up with, "we just got a bulk of orders and will be calling you if we have any in your area". Than she thanked me for calling? I guess I learned my lesson. Next time I will tell them I don't want them to hang up until it's in my email box!

This is actually a first for these guys as, Yes, the pay stinks but usually I don't have any problems at all. I do love their cheaper exterior where you only have to supply one photo. Like they are saving me so much work by that one photo that they should pay me less. Sad thing is I always give them front, street, address anyway cause it just doesn't feel right with the one.

Hey 'Matt', you're not alone - I learned here a long time ago to over deliver in photos - it cost nothing more - and I add an aerial tax photo too generally - especially for those properties that do not have an address number I can shoot.

Actually had a rep get mad at me for over delivering on photos - and she actually deleted them from the order before sending to the client. Unreal, like they would be mad with more photos of the property~

Ya, I include the tax auditor's photo that has the parcel # on the bottom of it for houses without numbers. Not everyone probably has that luxury but fortunately our county has all the photos online. Nobody has given me any grief about using that for address verification so far though.

Off the topic-do people remove the house numbers thinking that will delay foreclosure or something? Just seems like alot I've been doing lately have them removed.

I have wondered that myself - many times there are no numbers on the house or the mail box (bet the mailperson loves that)- sometimes you can see where they had been.

People have some crazy ideas about what will stall a foreclosure

Like the 1 today - not RRR but - 3/4 mile down a drive off a back road in a sparsely populated area of my county - I drove clear to the house on the drive - but without already having the Tax Aerial photo - I would have no idea which of the 3 properties was the subject. Like stated - the photo has the address, acreage, LRK, and Pin embedded or added on the photo.

Rose

I'm starting to see much more of the "missing numbers game". I had 3 this week, alone........I'm finding they're even painting over the painted curb numbers.....Usually, I research and map/plot prior to leaving my office.....When I get slammed with orders, and don't have the time to do my homework, that's when I get burned....never fails.

Even using the assessor's photos isn't a foolproof way to identify a property. I did a SFR a few days ago...the assessor had a photo of an auto repair garage. Luckily, I didn't need help identifying the property!

I received a similar, but much more friendly note from one of my favorite clients requesting that I upload ONLY the photos that are requested. She stated that they must remove any additional photos before forwarding the completed order.

I had one yesterday with the number 623. Well the 6 and 2 were missing but the outline was faintly visible in the photo.

Got QC quickly, so I emailed the cube dweller two old MLS printouts that actually showed the same house.

Sometimes I feel like I'm dealing with 8 year olds, or 80 year olds with fading vision.

I had the same problem with RRR on the address verification photo. They could not understand why the house would not have a house number on it. I am tempted to just carry sidewalk chalk in my car for RRR orders.

Very good Idea!!!

I've never had an order from them that required the address verification. Just one front photo. Guess I'm lucky.

I never had one either. I am doing an interopr for them now. I have absolutely no problem with them calling me, emailing me, etc...it does not happen. When they contact me for a BPO, I email them and let them know that I got it and when it will be done. After that, I never hear a word..

Haven't heard a peep from them since December, some one's fees must be lower than mine, if that's possible!? = )

They have been pretty quiet here as well - only a few since the first of the year

Nothing here since Dec.

I am seeing a couple a week. These guys are great to me, pay quickly, never call me or email me as I have heard they do. I just don't think they have much....

They're OK so far - but the pay does stink!

Pine

Just when I thought I had them trained.....got an interior yesterday......$75....got email this morning.......said it was $65....asked for them to change email amount.....and they did!
I don't need any more headaches than what I already have...lol

As I posted - Once a few weeks ago I accepted a headache bpo and we agreed at a higher price - got the assignment and let it sit while I did other work. When I got to it I just started working it as I already had the pics. I didn't even remember to check the price - which wasn't even addressed on the acceptance email. I never thought about it until I saw that they paid me 40 instead of the 60 we had agreed too. Now that is their fault - but I blame myself for sloppy prevention - but I have accepted other assignments since - which are always more work for less pay - but it is pay when I can work it in - and they give me a week to do so.

They do seem to allow more than ample time to get the work done. I got two interiors today from them,,,65.00 each. They will not bend on that price here. But, I always get at least five days to do them..

same here SMG.. all though one rep told me that we are not receiving as many orders from them anymore because there are 9 agents that have a lower fee than ours for drive by's and the lowest is at $34. I'll still do the orders when they call but only for realistic fees.

I got an email from them last week for an interior....$75.... I jumped on that like a dog on a bone.

has anyone ever gotten a listing after doing a BPO for RRReview?

I thinks we all have - but I don't think it is related

They never promise listings, just BPO's, but I had one woman tell me that some asset managers who order the BPO's may sometime give you a listing based on the work you did on the BPO.

You will never ever get listing from doing BPO for them !
I talked to asset manager directly as she called me to discuss BPO and told me that SPI have more then enough people already in the field and intend to keep them no matter what happens!
I been doing BPOs for them four years now!

I have been working for them for about 1 year. here in the miami area they pay cheap($40 exteriors)and their forms requires a lot of info on the comps. however they always pay fast and don't broadcast. I don't remember if I have done a interior order with them... all the orders I get from them are exteriors requiring only 1 picture of the subject; no comps pics. another thing is that I don't know if my bpos are too good or they don't really pay too much atention to the final completed bpo, since in all the time I have been completing orders from them, never have had a single QC issue.

Reading these posts on these BOP assignments I find it amazing and disgusting that the professionalism of Real Estate Agents has been catagorized in a class of where Realtors are dealing with the treatment of these asset companies and just deal with it. It is the Realtors that allow this to happen. $20 short on an order, not getting paid, chasing for payment, asset companies using your license and using you because they can treat you like crap. An appraiser wouldn't tolerate or allow such action. After all, the reason they use Realtors is because they don't want to pay an appraiser for professional service of an appraisal. They are using Realtors like high school graduate employers. I have read posts where companies like Mainstreet Valuations actually change figures on BPO's by their high school grad customer service people and actually change and delets remarks that are added. It's amazing. I wonder how long these BPO's are going to last being done by Realtors because there are already many complaints in about these asset companies about the BPO's coming in. Many of them are rigged and not right. Realtors....stop letting these companies take advantage of you. It is not worth it.

alllrighty...as I slowly get up and go back to what Ive been doing for over 8 years...

Looks like we've just had a drive by from an appraiser advocate.

I wonder though if The Rock and that CaliBrok.. are brothers.

This place permits people to blow off steam, get steamed and rant.

Now he can go back and try to get more orders

what is SPI?

I ment SPS!

Hmm, I predict they will last just as long as Appraiser's manage to always hit that magic number to get a deal approved. And don't give me the BS about things are changing with appraisals. Just saw one last week where the house sold for $30 a sqft more then ANYTHING else in a one mile radius, with nothing in the house different that would justify it's higher value ($60,000 more then identical house two streets over that sold 2 months ago, and prices in neighborhood flat over past 12 months)

BPO's will continue to be done because lenders recognize that BPO's provide a good range of values for a property, that let's them make informed decisions at a fraction of the cost of an appraisal, when they know appraisals and BPO's get most of the info from the same sources. Appraisers fight us tooth and nail because they know the same thing, and they recognize we are a threat to their income (much like many Realtors fight flat fee and discount brokerages because they feel threatened by them)

I just got an interior order from them, first interior order in years. BTW, they are no longer just SPS orders, this was for a different client.

Did RRReview move or are they bought by new company called SLC?
I see they moved to Utah.

I look back not so long ago before FCC was busted up and RRR had substantial impact in BPO market, now a glimmer of its former self and lots of former employees but a memory.

Hmmmm....I don't know but maybe thats why they never call any more to check the status of the order. Anyone else notice that?

It is very confusing, but they have always been in Utah but their US based employees are in Florida. The Indians are in India. Like I said, very confusing. My checks always come from Utah. Just got one, no mention of a SLC (perhaps Salt Lake City?).

I thought the Florida office shut down...no?

I still get orders out of Jacksonville (I think it's Jacksonville w/US VMs)???? I really don't know. It's not like I'm in the loop with them. It's enough that I get the ocassional order. I pay attention to who it's from. Very seldom do I get one from someone in the US but I do and the last one was from someone in Florida.

There used to be one girl in Fla that called me all the time with orders up until a month or so ago. She called three or four times a week. She quit and told me it was because "they were moving to Utah"..my take is that different groups within RRR are moving around. I know when I call and need help the folks that do that are in Utah....I would up getting six orders from them this past week.