Hi, I am fairly new to your website, and I have read over pretty much of this forum, but alot of the foreclosure companies that you have mentioned have since closed down, or something, because when I look them up, they don't have a website anymore. Does anyone know of any good companies to do BPO's for?

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Michelle Ebling
Century 21 Krall RE

[This message has been edited by gfarkas (edited 06-25-2004).]

Knowledge of good companies that do foreclosure work in your area is a very valuable bit of information... not one you should expect to be readily shared with the world, unlike BPO companies.

Most agents that work with these companies, worked long and hard to develop relationships with them and they are unlikely, would be in fact foolish to have a ton of other agent flood them with request for work. You need to be realistic.

I would suggest, that in place of being pointed to the gold... go digging for some yourself. It really isn't all that hard, you obviously know how to use a computer so use it, but don't expect immediate results. Most of these companies have long term working relationships with specific agents and do not change simply because another agent ask for an opportunity. Many will not even allow you to register. Simply by doing BPO's for a while will generate some contacts and is the way most agent become involved in REO.

First of all "Reality check", what are the chances that anyone in this forum, actually lives in a distance close enought to me, to actually be in competition??? Slim to none. I live in a small city in Pa, and all I was asking was if anyone knew any good companies,(for BPO's) or their web addresses, to post them, as they did on previous forums. I thought that was what this forum was all about. Sharing information about the real estate field. I'm not asking anyone to compete with me. Maybe someone lives in California, and knows of a national company, who I may be able to use also. It's pretty childish to worry about competition across the United states.

FWIW,
This forum is for mutual assistance. I know there are 2 other agents in my marketplace monitoring the threads and I continue to share in spite of this. REO's are a niche market and not for everyone, it takes years and years to get situated. You need 3-4 good clients to work with since it seems the banks run hot and cold, are streaky with the business they give us and you must constantly prospect for new accounts since most of the companies change Realtors every few months or so.
We do have a lot of chatter regarding the 'bad actors' out there, but IMHO we should all be sharing the good stuff as well. Many of you have contacted me 'off list' for recommendations and I really haven't been able to help much since most of my resources have been posted here.
For a new resource, I suggest registering at www.matrixasset.com They are a 3rd party for Duetsch Bank/Homecomings.
Have a great weekend all!

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BPO companies are freely posted and occasionally those that do some REO work are also identified. However most larger REO companies do not do a large amount of BPO, most actually hire them out and have their agents to a 2nd opinion prior to listing... often for free.

Even the larger REO companies have a limited staff and most often will not discuss adding new agents. Most use a combined database showing agents that do BPO's and how those valuations compared to actual final sales. They select new REO agents based on those as they need them in specific areas. Most REO companies will only have 2 agents that cover a similar area so the total number is very small.

If you follow these posting very much you will note that several thousands of agents are members here, in my own small town, at least 5 are very active on this and other similar boards. You also should be aware that a number of internet listing services service very wide markets, often entire states or sections of the country, We have 3 doing that in our area that are state wide. While you may not see why agents keep client list private... agents that do REO work as a significant part of their business do well understand the reality of the situation. In real estate, nothing is truly "out of area" possibilities of referrals exist even in REO. I have referred REO's to 3 different states in the past year.

While most REO companies work for a group of banks / lenders some only service specific areas for specific lenders. If you actually have interest in developing relationships with these companies you have several relatively easy methods of locating them, but you will need to put forth an effort. Not everything comes free of charge or cost and valued client list are one of them as you should have observed from the "massive" responses you received on your post.

Thank you for your information. I do appreciate it, and I did check out that website. I actually found quite a few others as well, going back through the old posts. I have already been asked to do several BPO's also. So thanks again.
Michelle

Michelle..
Regrettably Realtors can sometimes be a strange bunch, me included... Your best bet is to just ask questions, read all of the posts including the old ones and do alot of websearching... Find out what banks/mortgage companies do alot of lending in your area and find out if they "hold" their own paper... If they do, contact them... You may not get a chance right away, but be persistent... PERSISTENCE is the key... Honestly, in my markets and I work several, there are quite a few people that I actually know on here...

By the way, if they do sell their "paper", find out who they sell it to and ask those companies...

Good Luck and welcome to the forums...

Duane

www.rrreview.com is very reputable , and they're in your neck of the woods - PA.

Ebling - all of these agents have good information for you and are just being very honest. One thing you should also take note of... Its usually frowned upon if you contact a company asking for business, especially if you have signed up. Do your research, find the websites, sign up... then ask for work! Also, its very helpful to SNAIL MAIL your resume and market yourself to the bank/REO company. If you take the extra time and go the extra mile it might pay off!

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Nathan Brown
Bender Realty
REO Specialist
800-713-3129
NBrown8214@aol.com

Your all correct,I hire my workers as subcontractors and send them a 1099 at the end of the year.As the subcontractor they are responsible for them selfs when hurt or injured.

I have 1,000,000 policy for damages and such.

What i learnd on trash out bids is if i make 1/3rd of what i bid i was doing good.I have three workers and three trucks and they fill them up and go to the local dump.There are free dumps if you contact the town ship,usually bigger citys have the free dumps.

My company does everything from Winterizations to Trash outs,Rekeys,Inspections,Board ups,Snow removals,and Yard Maintenance.

James Strebel
J.S.Maintenance
1-262-210-7227 Cell
1-262-586-5005 Fax

Who knows about [b]Benham REO Group?[/b] Evidently, they are a franchise seller that provides a proprietary REO mgt. & sales system to Lender/Sellers. They claim to have the highest rated agents in the business.

They sell franchises to investors (often brokers) who designate an agent in the office to handle the REO listings generated via their affiiation with Benham. They claim to have processes in place to facilitate the tasks of the agent and streamline the process at all levels.

Benham is based near Charlotte, NC. www.benhamreo.com
Their site doesn't tell me much so I'm hoping for first hand accounts from this forum. Thanks!

Actually Anom I found out through checking things out that two of my competitors for both BPOs and REO listings frequently read and seldom post on this site. I acutally had one call me and ask me if I was Gig em.

The other one got mad at me because I once received a call from one of the BPO companies that is frequently mentioned on here requesting me to use a "better" sold comp that was only a block away for a job that I did when another agent used it.

After not finding it in the MLS, I drove back 30 miles and found the address was a vacant lot and a totally factiously made up comp.

I emailed support at the company photos of the vacant lot and of the county tax records showing that it was a vacant lot and said that I refuse to use a vacant lot for a 1890 victorian historical home as I thought my 1920 year built home was a better comp.

I bet she doesn't do work for that company anymore.

That is the main reason that I don't post nearly as often as i used to and also that I don't volunteer as much helpful information as I used to. It's way too competitive out there to help the competition.

Benham is based here in Concord, N.C., just outside Charlotte. That have a ton of REO listings in this area, over probably 12 or 13 county area. They are now opening a commercial division. I do a lot of BPOs for listings they are getting. They are usually pretty good to work with, but if you actually want to talk to a live person at their office you have to pick the "asset manager" number of on their automated telephone system.