I've stated this in another thread so sorry for being redundant. I know an appraiser had performed a walk-in appraisal (1004) where the home was in contract. The interior of the home had been recently updated and remodeled and the sales price was at market value.
Lender then had a Realtor (with 2 months experience) perform an exterior BPO, which came in $10,000 under appraisers value and the purchase price. I know the Realtor because she works in my real estate office (I'm also a Realtor too). She had no clue on how to make adjustments, how to really even perform any type evaluation, and didn't even know what to look for when doing this type of work.
The lender accepted the BPO's valuation over the appraisers.
I know so many Realtors out here performing BPO's that have no clue to any type of basic valuation yet they are getting so much work, especially pre-foreclosure, that are setting prices for the lenders.
I stated in another thread how I bought a foreclosed house for $62,000 (I had it listed for $115,000 at one time the year before). The house was 1800 sf and although needing some updating, wasn't in that bad of shape. A few months later I was talking to a Realtor about the good deal I got and he stated that he did the BPO that set the price. He stated he thought it was a MH and about 1,200 sf. Not even close.
Hate to say it but most Realtors I know are morons when it comes to performing BPO's and the lenders are even bigger morons for accepting them. All to save a couple hundred dollars on an appraisal fee, they lose thousands, if not tens of thousands on these.
I've seen many BPO's by Realtors I know that aren't even close to a legitimate value and its mostly not a sometime thing, it mostly an all the time thing.