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Many real estate agents that provide BPOs know what is entailed in the process. Many BPO agents enjoy doing BPOs and many that don’t necessarily enjoy them, but feel that it is necessary to supplement their Real Estate business and to develop relationships in the industry.

There are even companies that seem to offer BPO education, certification and lists of companies looking for BPO agents. Do these companies provide value for agents? Are their “Membership Fees” worth it? Have you had a good experience with such companies?

Here is a list we found that covers many of the different tasks when processing a BPO.

• BPO Preparation

• Review BPO Order

• Gather Information & Property Inspection

• Market evaluation

• Distressed Properties

• Accessing Public Records

• Contact Property Owner

• BPO Photos

• Neighborhood Inspection

• Exterior Property Inspection

• Interior Inspection

• Gross Living Area

• Room Count & GLA

• Rating a Property & Amenities

• House Types & Photo Examples

• House Styles & Photo Examples

• Roof Types & Photo Examples

• Comparables

• Comparable Standards and Guidelines

• MLS Searchs

• Adjustments

• Adjust Features

• Time Adjustments – How to appreciate and depreciate

• Determine Feature Value & Paired Sales Analysis

• Determine Appreciation or Depreciation rate

• Application of Appreciation or Depreciation rate

• Superior, Inferior & Equal Comps

• Pricing & Submissions

• Final Property Price

• Reconciliation Process

• Land Value

• BPO Form Common Fields

• Property & Amenity Rating

• Sources of Information

Of course there are many different lists out there, and depending on the experience of different BPO agents, this list could be accurate or even lack other steps necessary. Let us know if you feel there are other steps worth mentioning.

PamsVAS

A home warranty is an affordable way to cover the costs of unexpected mechanical failure of a major system or appliance in your new home. A home warranty is specifically designed to cover the kinds of repairs that home insurance does not: appliances, plumbing and electrical, air conditioning and furnaces, and pool equipment.

The average annual cost of a home warranty policy is between $250 and $400. Most home warranty companies offer comparable coverage within the same price range. The premium is payable at close of escrow and customarily protects you for one full year. Repairs are typically handled through the home warranty company with a minimal deductible. Often times the cost of the first year premium is offered as an incentive by sellers to solicit the sale of the property.

The age and condition of the home should be a consideration when choosing to purchase a home warranty. A fifteen year-old home with original equipment, versus a two year old home will likely have different financial risks. Your Realtor can help you decide if a home warranty policy is right for you based on your individual circumstances.

Why Should I Consider a Home Warranty?

Homeownership is expensive enough all on its own, without adding the cost of repairs and replacements. When moving into a home where appliances and systems have been previously used, there is always the chance that the general wear and tear, or the way in which they were previously used and maintained, could cause breakdown and/or complete failure. These repairs/replacements can be astronomically costly and often times occur unexpectedly. A home warranty will protect you financially from most of the frequently occurring breakdowns of home system components and appliances.

No matter what policy or Insurer you use be sure to read the details of coverage, ie: the fine print. Many of these companies require that you call them absolutely FIRST when a repair is needed. If you call your neighborhood plumber, hvac or electrician, then the insurance company may not cover the work. So be aware of this detail now, before any emergency repairs are needed.

Discuss your unique needs and concerns with your home warranty representative. If you do not have a trusted home warranty representative, your Realtor can refer you to one.

This information is meant as a guide. Although deemed reliable, information may not be accurate for your specific market or property type. Please consult a Realtor professional or home warranty representative for more information home warranty policies.

Buying a new home is quite an undertaking. The stress of buying a mortgage and planning on how you will pay back your lender can be a daunting process. It seems that a mortgage term can take a lifetime. Some mortgage periods last 20 years, most will go on for 25 years but there are 30-year terms available if you want to stretch out your payments over a longer period.

Before you can even start to do any calculations – and we will at a later stage – you will need to get some figures written down first. The significant figure, of course, is the price of the home you are buying. Next, you will need to write down a figure representing any down payment (or deposit); this is assuming there is a deposit, in this example we will work without a deposit sum.

So, how exactly is a real estate mortgage payment amortized? We have the price of your home – let us say you are buying a small condo in South Carolina valued at $100,000. You will have made the offer to the seller (via the real estate agent of course) and then you will need to establish a lender that is prepared to loan you the sum of $100,000 (remember you are not putting down any deposit).

 The lender will offer you an interest rate by which you must pay on top of your $100,000. If you decide to reduce the amount of monthly payments you would normally go for a 30-year term, rather than a shorter period. At 30 years with a fixed rate of 4.5% throughout the life of the mortgage you would have to pay $506.69 a month.

Now, there are 360 months covering the life of your mortgage, so that's 360 x $506.69, which means over the life of your mortgage loan you will pay a total of $182,408. The first thought you will have is that you are paying some $82,400 more than the actual selling price of your South Carolina condo.

Well, it's the way a mortgage payment is amortized, so if you want to drag out the loan over 30 years then any fixed rate is actually a good bargain, despite the US interest rates at an all-time low in the present climate. These low interest rate figures may well go up at some point in the future but it would be unlikely that we will see the historic highs before the housing market collapse pre-2007.

If you are a Real Estate Agent and need our Virtual Assistants, CONTACT US

Broker's Price Opinion is the way forward when hired sales agents use a method to calculate the selling price of a home that has been repossessed. One will usually find the need for a Broker's Price Opinion when a lender or a mortgage company thinks the expense of a property cannot be determined, therefore forcing the lender to order the BPO. It is the real estate broker that carries out the valuation.

The price that is determined from the BPO is issued in a report which can be a four or five page official document and includes key information such as:

• The neighborhood and property prices in the immediate ZIP code

• The price of similar properties in that neighborhood

• Regional market aspects

• Condition of the property

Sales trends are also taken into consideration and the BPO agent will also look at aspects like how much repair needs to be carried out on the property, whether the garden, fixtures, fittings and foundations are in disrepair and even crime figures which could lower the pricing opinion of the local area. 

A lender or a bank will hire an agent to carry out the BPO and there are a number of different reasons why they may order a BPO on a real estate property. These will include real estate owned properties where homes will have been repossessed following non-payment of monthly revenues, foreclosures, short sales, and sometimes just to double check a previous appraisal of a home's price.

The estimated value of a property could be calculated by a real estate broker or a company that is certified to carry out a BPO. Another determining factor in BPOs is the cost it might take to get the home up to scratch and ready to sell on the normal market. A home that has been repossessed is more often than not in a state of disrepair, or it could have had the gas and electricity turned off. 

A home that has been through foreclosure may even require extensive work on the yard areas, plumbing, rewiring, fire or water damage, driveway repair or simply need modernization and redecoration carried out. These factors and costs are calculated in to the report by the real estate agent and then passed on to the financial institution, such as the bank, lending association or financial institution that has requested the BPO in the first place. 

If you are a Real Estate agent that specializes in processing BPOs, contact us about being your virtual assistant to help you process all your orders.

CONTACT US HERE for more information on helping you with your BPOs.

Foreclosure filings are down to record lows, but a more sinister-sounding problem may be on the rise—"zombie foreclosures."

RealtyTrac released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report for February, reporting that foreclosure filings (default notices, schedule auctions, and bank repossessions) were 112,498, down 10 percent from January and down 27 percent from the previous year.

Foreclosure filings in the month of February represent the lowest monthly total since December, 2006—a more than seven-year low.

"Cold weather and a short month certainly contributed to a seasonal drop in foreclosure activity in February, but the reality is that new activity is no longer the biggest threat to the housing market when it comes to foreclosures," said Daren Blomquist, VP at RealtyTrac.

"The biggest threat from foreclosures going forward is properties that have been lingering in the foreclosure process for years, many of them vacant with neither the distressed homeowner or the foreclosing lender taking responsibility for maintenance and upkeep of the home—or at the very least facilitating a sale to a new homeowner more likely to perform needed upkeep and maintenance," Blomquist said.

As of the first quarter of 2014, a total of 152,033 properties in the foreclosure process had been vacated by the homeowner. These “zombie foreclosures” represent 21 percent of all properties in the foreclosure process.

Owner-vacated properties have been in the foreclosure process an average of 1,031 days, nearly three years.

"One in every five homes in the foreclosure process nationwide have been vacated by the distressed homeowner, but it is closer to one in three foreclosures in some cities," Blomquist added. "These properties drag down home values in the surrounding neighborhood and contribute to a climate of uncertainty and low inventory in local housing markets."

The state with the most owner-vacated foreclosures was Florida with 54,908, representing 36 percent of the national total. Illinois (15,512), New York (10,880), New Jersey (8,595), and Ohio (7,780) rounded out the top five states for owner-vacated foreclosures.

Foreclosure starts fell back to 51,842, their lowest level since December, 2005. A total of 47,715 U.S. properties were scheduled for a future foreclosure auction in February, down 15 percent from the previous month and down 21 percent from a year ago.

Bank repossessions (REO) were 30,307 in February, up less than 1 percent from January. Year-over-year, REO properties were down 33 percent.

States with the highest foreclosure rates in February were Florida, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, and Illinois.

Among metros with populations of 200,000 or more, Florida held nine of the top ten metros for foreclosure rates in February. The dubious honor of leader went to the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville metro, where one in every 296 housing units were in foreclosure—nearly four times the national average.

ww.dsnews.com

Busy business owners, executives and professionals sometimes have a hard time coping with their workload and get overwhelmed by all the tasks. There are times that they feel swamped and because of that feeling of helplessness, nothing gets done in the process. If this is the kind of feeling or atmosphere that you have, it might be time to hire an assistant or a virtual assistant to ease up on your busy schedule and for you to be more productive.

Now, finding the perfect assistant might seem easy at first glance seeing that there is an increase of virtual assistants in the web but it really is not as easy as you think. You will need to find one that fits your criteria and requirements and your budget as well.

Here are some helpful tips on how you can find the perfect VA for yourself or for your business:

1)    Figure out your budget and how many hours of work you need. It is very important to figure out how many hours of work done per week you need for a VA and how much you are prepared to pay. This ensures that you don’t go over budget and your VA can work on the amount you provide.

2)    Check what type of work you need done. You need to figure out what kind of work you need from the VA so that you can explain to your VA what tasks you want and therefore prevent wasting the VA’s time or yours for that matter.

3)    Gather as many candidates for VA as you can. Receive as many applications as you can and prepare a shortlist for your interview based on the VA’s qualifications and experience. Spend adequate time in recruitment for your VA since you want someone who can work with you well, so invest the time. Be sure that even if you have chosen the successful applicant that you also keep in mind 1 or 2 next to that applicant if in case the successful one does not work out well.

4)    Make sure that you and your VA agree on a trial period for work. Having a trial period ensures that you are really sure of the fit of the VA and your needs. Also this is sort of an adjustment period for the VA and you and will show or somehow predict the kind of work relationship you both will have.

5)    Agree on scope of work and specific terms of the VA’s contract. Agreeing on specific terms of employment and the scope of work will ensure that all needs are met and expectations are covered both on your side and the VA’s as well. This bodes well for everyone concerned and prevents miscommunication and disagreements for a better working relationship.

Sometimes finding the perfect VA is easy and sometimes it is not. The tips above are designed to be helpful in guiding you to meeting the VA that can satisfy your needs, if not exceed them. Sometimes also it could be a trial and error method. Different approaches work as well.