I am a Trainee Appraiser and a Realtard.

[sammielizabeth]

After being laid off from New Home Sales late last year, I have had trouble finding a steady job. I got hired at an REO company doing BPO's for $45 a pop. Now maybe i'm wrong here, but these things take just as long for me to do as an appraisal (other than the sketch) It takes time to pull the appropriate sold comps and then the appropriate listed comps. Evidently my employer thinks I should be able to complete one of these in 45 minutes. I don't see how this is possibl? Maybe I am just slow? They would take me at least two hours. Am I doing something wrong? Maybe I should just forget about doing these, I don't think they are worth the pay? I don't know what to do anymore, I love real estate, but maybe I need to face reality and get a regular job with benefits!

 

[Tom Barclay]

I have been doing this for just short of 20 years with extensive market knowledge, and I couldn't do a BPO in two hours. Even with the best data, homogeneous neighborhoods, etc. You are working for a "skippy mill". Best to find some honest work.

 

[Carnivore]

The good news is your making some money.

The bad news is you will not be able to take any credit for BPO's twoards your licensing.

More good news is that there are no standards for BPO's other then what you set for them.

Are you a actual licensed RE Broker. If not the bad news is your probably sideways with California State Law and you run the risk of losing your Trainee Appraiser License. I am not sure about CA, but in NC your probably in a big heap of trouble.

good luck.

 

[The Warrior Monk]

Some states only allow the preparation of BPOs to procure a listing.

I've seen the BPO forms that some are used. I know one agent that was asked to do one for $45, and ended up renegotiating and got $300. Even still, it was the last one he ever did, because of the amount of work involved.

 

[Alison Swain]

I've seen the forms. They look a hell of a lot like an appraisal form to me. No way I could do one in only two hours.

Scary to think what they're sending in to these banks. :Eyecrazy:

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

I love real estate

My sympathy to you. My advice? Find another line of work that is more honest....like car salesman, keno dealer, life insurance, pole dancer, selling tips at the local race track....or find a better place to work. In CA, that might be hard to do.
I keep recommending to people that they consider the oil business. You didn't say what part of Cali U are from but parts have extensive oil business (once the leading oil state back in the 20's). There is demand in land departments (check www.landmen.org) for coast to coast doing record checks and dealing with landowners.
I know the negative connotations of the oil biz and I used to have one of those bumper stickers that read "Please don't tell my momma I work in the Oil Patch, she thinks I play piano in a w*orehouse." but fact is, there is so much more fraud in real estate than it makes the oil promoters of old look like pikers. The new generation of oil men, i fear, may be a page from the book of Realtors and Mortgage Brokers. Use the bracketed words in sentences below and use Oil and Land either one....

The price of [NAME] will always go up because [NAME] is too scarce a commodity. They don't make any more [NAME]. If you don't get in now you won't be able to afford [NAME]. This is the new paradigm, prices will never fall again in [NAME].

 

[c w d]

I got hired at an REO company doing BPO's for $45 a pop. Now maybe i'm wrong here, but these things take just as long for me to do as an appraisal (other than the sketch) It takes time to pull the appropriate sold comps and then the appropriate listed comps. Evidently my employer thinks I should be able to complete one of these in 45 minutes. I don't see how this is possibl? Maybe I am just slow? They would take me at least two hours. Am I doing something wrong?

Maybe is it not possible for you to do these in 45 minutes and your employer is outright lying to you. Are there any others in the office doing BPO's? If so, talk to them about it. Try to find out how long it takes them to do it. If they are doing it in 45 minutes then question them about their methods and try to incorporate that in your own.

It could be that what you think is actually what is the reality; it takes more than 45 minutes. The fact is in this business most employers are happy to work their employees to death with sub-standard pay. Your ignorance is their asset.

When I was a trainee we had an appraiser in our office that could throw together an appraisal signed and transmitted in about an hour sometimes two. With me automating some of my record searching and form filling I could never get below the 2 to 3 hour mark on even the easiest of assignments. Having been able to look at some of these appraiser's appraisals there are a lot of corners cut. There are no real analysis in those appraisals and all comments are canned and reused extensively.

So, while it may be possible cut the time required to do this work or your BPO's to 45 minutes you'll do it to the detriment of the analysis and explanation. I don't know the regulations for BPO's. From what I gather here on this site with the exception of who can do them and why, it doesn't sound like there is anything that dictates minimum standards. So if you want to cut time you'll have to cut the amount of work going into them. That means, less analysis, less explanation and try not to provide a quality product. Your employer isn't paying for it.

 

[claybonner]

I would ask to see an example of what they think is a good BPO; their expecations may be less than yours. I've run across this same situation with reviewing appraisals. If I reviewed appraisals the way I think it should be, that would take two hours. But they want it done in 30 minutes - so the question is, what specifically do they want covered in the review? Not every single line item, just what they think is important.