Hi all,
I am new to the site, but not new to the BPO bizznizz. I was wanting to check references for USRES.COM and sister partner company resnet.com, usres handles the BPO's and resnet handles the REO's. If you provide free BPO's for them, they give you the listings when they are listed....I have done about 10 free so far, but before I get too heavily involved in freebies, I wanted to verify that agents do get listings from them. I heard that one in SO CAL was getting a lot. No sure if its true. Does anyone have experience working with either company??? If so any feedback is appreciated....Thanks

do a search here on USRES, many agents prefer NOT to work for them as they promose a WHOLE LOT but never deliver that often...freebies you do for them, actually makes money for them, and nothing for you. It has also been speculated they are nothing more than a BPO mill, trying to turn into an asset mgmt company.

Thanks so much for the info, I have read many posts, but none re: them, but I will do a search now realizing that it is possible. I appreciate your time in responding.

USRES is one of very few companies that ever refused to pay a previously agreed fee. They even went so far as to say that I wanted to do it for free so I would receive the listing! Wrong, I don't speculate on BPOs, they have to make money for me too!

EXACTLY!!! And what is with the crap they say about a 'possible' listing? If they are on top of it, they should KNOW! I think the freebie excuse is getting so old with them and so many agents are unto them and refuse to work for them anymore...

Yes, I received a BPO from them today!
When I asked them about fees, they say "you can eiither do a FREE BPO or sign up for
$250 and ger the REO......PUH LEEZE! I declined!

Well, I agree the whole free BPO thing IS a problem. I have worked with them for about 2 years now. They ARE a real REO Asset Company. We have received probably over 50 properties from them in that time....and yes that is about 500 free BPO's!!

Res.net is their REO platform....like REOSource, or REOTrans. They are also trying to get other Asset Companies to use their system too, but I don't think many have yet. They are becoming a more well known company in the industry. The free BPO program is allowing them to undercut many other companies I'm sure, because their own overhead is so low. So they are growing larger.

Every area is different I'm sure. I am in Metro Detroit, so we have a LOT more REO's then other areas. But I will tell you, although you have to do free BPO's for the REO business (I know that sucks and IS a problem), it is also dependant on you doing good work, and them knowing they can rely on you. Building a good relationship with them is important to get business.

It is the owners decision on how things are run, not the employees. Many of them don't even know how they do business is different from the rest of the industry. So complaining to the employess about their practices will do nothing except make them think you don't want to work with them (I have tried even AFTER I had a working relationship with them, but this is just how the owner is doing things....and to his credit it is working for him - unfortunately for us.)

There is a LOT of info on here about them - so just search. I can't tell you to work for them or not. All I can say is they ARE for real at least. It's just a matter of at what cost do you want to work for them?

Hey everybody,
Thanks for so much info and replies re: the free bpo's....much appreciated!! Wow, Dave has much more patience then I do. I have done probably 10 and am ready to throw in the towel....so far it has cost me $500 to get a possible listing? Is it worth it to give up your services for the amount you would make on a commission in exchange....I mean, by the time I get a listing, if I keep doing 10-20 a month, by the time I do 40 of them, it would eat up every bit of commission I would make on a deal. Is it worth it? How long did it take to get the REO's from them? I can't keep doing them, because they are requesting sometimes 3 a day several times a week. Thanks again all.....

Dave-

I have to disagree with you on this. I did hundreds of free BPOs for them. I got some listings (5-6). Then they started lowering the commissions and raising the referrel fees. The last house I sold for them I actually lost money when I figured expenses. Plus they don't like to pay their reimbursements. I told them "No thanks, just pay me for the BPOs". And they do, when they can't find anyone to do them for free.

Hey, I never said the situation was good for me either....lol. Doing $25,000 in free BPO work doesn't help my bottomline at all! I just wanted everyone to know they were a real REO company.

Don't know what they're doing with you OH, but we use to be at 3% commission and a 30% referral fee. I think around the beginning of this year, they switched to a 2% commission, but NO referral fee. So I don't know what they have you on.

We do the free BPO's, then we get a listing that has recently had a foreclosure assigned to us. Michigan is a redemption state, so unless the occupants vacate, we have to wait 6 months before anything happens. Then a month to get the property ready and on the market...and then 3-6 months of marketing on average. So we have each listing in our inventory for a year on average!

And don't forget about the driving by the property every two weeks for a year. Doing the REO BPO during redemtion, and again upon listing, and again if the property is on the market a while. Plus the monthly status updates while it is on the market. In addition to marketing the property, negotiating offers, handling all the work on the property and invoicing!

So not only do I have to do about $500 of free BPO's, but I have to hold each property for about 12 months. Even when I'm at 100% commission, I may make what $1,000 if it sells? Divide that by 12 months = $83/month?!? Let's say it is an unusually higher amount and I make $2,000....so then I made = $166/month! But of course in business terms you would really need to subtract the original $500 from the final amount to get the true business net - so now I am back down to $125/month!

The only way to have any success at all is to deal in volume (multiple those monthly numbers by as many properties as you want - ALTHOUGH that assumes they sell while you HAVE them!) However, I have gotten to the point where it is difficult to do anything more without more help, but I am not making enough to hire more help then I have now. It is a sucky Catch-22. So, I am still trying to figure that out.

So anyway, like I said, I'm NOT telling anyone they should work for them. I'm just saying their real. It's up to you if you want to work like this.

I did approximately 25 orders for them before I realized I was never getting a listing from them. They have many agents on their list. I just received an order last week, which I promptly ignored. USRES then sent me follow up emails requesting eta, etc., which I also ignored. Then they called. She wanted to know when the order would be complete, and I simply told her I was not accepting the order. She wanted to know why and I told her I was extremely busy and that I no longer did work for free. An attempt was made to negotiate a 'what-if' price, but then I got the impression from her that what they do is send out the SAME ORDER to multiple agents. Some might do it, some might not. Doesn't matter if they get ten completed on the same property, because it doesn't cost them a dime. But at least they get their order. In areas where there is limited potential for actually getting a listing (rural, small market, etc.) just ignore their orders and refuse to do them for free. My time is money, too. As long as you do them for free, you'll keep getting their orders. Just say no.

Thank you for the advise, that is what I decided to do last week. I had done between 6-10, and decided that I was already out about $500.00 in freebies for the possibility of a commission, and figured by the time I made one it would be wiped out by the free services I provided, so I told them I was on vacation for two weeks so that I would have time to check them out to see if they are legitimate or not......I appreciate your response, thanks again!

I got an e-mail from them today. Here's my reply:

Thank you for considering us for your BPO needs.

Unfortunately, we are not able to support our business by providing quality BPOs at no cost!

The companies that we currently perform work for willingly pay us a fair price within a
timely manner AND provide REO listings!

Our fee is $XX.XX. I'll be happy to refund the cost of the BPO back to your company IF and WHEN we receive a listing as a result.

Let us know!

Sincerely,

Scott

You got them, didn't you?

Nah, not really. I didn't want them!