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BPOs - Increasing Prevalence

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xmtraterbcra

Junior Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2008
Professional Status
Certified General Appraiser
State
California
I just heard from someone that attended this weeks "PMC 2008" (Predictive Modeling Conference 2008) in San Diego that everybody down there was talking BPOs. There are apparently numerous companies now offering BPOs, such as

http://www.BrokerPriceOpinion.com

- which charges $105 for a drive-by BPO and $150 for an Interior BPO.

Now, my understanding is that these can only be used for determining a Listing Price. In fact in some states, such as Michican, you need a Broker's license to charge a fee for doing these. In California, if I read the regulations correctly, only BPOs which are intended to set a sales or listing price are exempt from USPAP.

However, it appears from reading various websites and calling a marketing representatave at BrokerPriceOpinion.com that BPOs are being openly used for general valuation purposes. The market rep at BrokerPriceOpionl.com told me that lenders commonly order BPOs from them to value portfolios (typically 1000 properties at a time) and provide a second opinion of value for loans.

..... I think that "officially" these companies provide BPOs only for estimating sales prices. But, in reality, it appears that they are used for many other types of valuation tasks.

Hopefully, someone can investigate this a little further.

Bert Craytor, SRA
Certified General Appraiser
 
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I rather do 3-4 good appraisals in a weak than 9-10 BPO's in a weak, and then betting to have similar requirements as an appraisal. I'm enjoying my weekends.
 
>>Check out this forum ...

Apparently RELS Valuation is big on using BPOs for "seconds" and HELOCs. ... And yes, a lot of complaints from brokers dealing with RELS BPOs.

I question the legality of these though - even for brokers.

Bert Craytor, SRA
Certified General Appraiser
 
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