I am often asked how to set up an REO team. Of course there are many ways to do so and some are better than others. Ultimately you have to do what works best for you and your clients. Here is how we've structured it:1. Person or team to access damage, handle lock outs, visual inspection, opens property for utilities, take pictures, check occupancy status, handles cash for keys and installs lockbox; usually has a CWP.2. BPO agent or team depending on how many listings you are getting.3. REO agent or team coordinator who inputs listings, takes in all the offers, follows up and closes transaction.4. Billing person or team to pay all vendors and make sure expenses are submitted to asset manager.5. Dedicated asset manager liaison to negotiate and handle all matters directly with the asset manager.6. Dedicated receptionist to field all incoming calls and give out to agents per broker/team leader instructions7. Agent or agents to sit open houses and field incoming buyers calls; they pay a referral on the calls only.8. Commission disbursing person or team.Besides that there are the usual dedicated repair contractors, loan officers, home inspectors, escrow officers and home warranty representative. Be careful when your starting your team that you hire ethical agents that are not going to try to take away your buyers or REO accounts. Make sure you have a detailed written contract that stipulates every member's duties.
Steve-AMs will normally only work with brokers who have extensive REO experience, capital it takes to run an REO team and the right systems in place. Nonetheless, most brokers will allow sub-agents to market themselves to AMs if they are not receiving REO listings from the broker. However, I did experience an agent who received a referral from their broker to an asset manager and that agent ended up changing companies and taking the account with her because she had built the relationship with the AM. As you can imagine that did not go well with the broker and ruined the relationship. Most brokers I know deal directly with the AMs or have a family member/trusted agent who does. The agent who handles the REO listings normally gets a fixed salary plus bonuses. Hope that answers your questions.
Carlos,
I have a quick question, do you allow your sub- agents to market themselves to AM's and take their own listings?
And if you do how do you compensate them.
Excellent post. Organization is the bedrock of doing Reo and most agents that haven't tried it don't understand how much it entails. You're also dead on about the contracts and those who would just rip off clients. They're a dime a dozen and then usually don't get the job done for the buyer or seller. Most of them just want the quick pop and haven't mastered the complexities of reo yet. ;)
Having sold REO's in high volume for the past 10 years, creating the ultimate REO team has been of major importance to my personally.
I have determined after much hands on testing the following:
Next to the Primary Agent, a BPO/MSR Coordinator is the first and foremost important person to start a team. Obtaining the listing and keeping it rely on excellent valuation and feedback.
As inventory begins to accumulate, a Property/Billing Coordinator becomes necessary to ensure proper maintenance, CFK, Evictions and of course billing is followed up continuously.
As sales begin to build, a Transaction/Closing needs to take over handling of incoming offers, deals in process and closings.
A Listing/Marketing Coordinator rounds out the "Core Four" positions, to market our inventory to websites, listing portals, and to co-op agents.
A team built on this can handle up to 250 to 300 REO sales a year.
Once we hit that level of production, I added a Sales Coordinator to work as a liaison with all incoming offers, and co-op agent requests for assistance, offering a concierge level of assistance to any agent who want to sell one of our properties.
We also have a part time person acting as a field rep who takes photos, measures properties, get water reads, order city inspections, pick up and drop off document packages, etc.
So far this year, we have closed over 450 REO transactions (listings and/or sales).
Comments
I have a quick question, do you allow your sub- agents to market themselves to AM's and take their own listings?
And if you do how do you compensate them.
Thank you for your input!
Carlos
I have determined after much hands on testing the following:
Next to the Primary Agent, a BPO/MSR Coordinator is the first and foremost important person to start a team. Obtaining the listing and keeping it rely on excellent valuation and feedback.
As inventory begins to accumulate, a Property/Billing Coordinator becomes necessary to ensure proper maintenance, CFK, Evictions and of course billing is followed up continuously.
As sales begin to build, a Transaction/Closing needs to take over handling of incoming offers, deals in process and closings.
A Listing/Marketing Coordinator rounds out the "Core Four" positions, to market our inventory to websites, listing portals, and to co-op agents.
A team built on this can handle up to 250 to 300 REO sales a year.
Once we hit that level of production, I added a Sales Coordinator to work as a liaison with all incoming offers, and co-op agent requests for assistance, offering a concierge level of assistance to any agent who want to sell one of our properties.
We also have a part time person acting as a field rep who takes photos, measures properties, get water reads, order city inspections, pick up and drop off document packages, etc.
So far this year, we have closed over 450 REO transactions (listings and/or sales).
REO Agent + "Core Four"
1) BPO/MSR Coordinator
2) Closing Coordinator
3) Property/Billing Coordinator
4) Listing/Marketing Coordinator
5) Sales Coordinator
6) Field Rep
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