Pasted from my blog at http://reoangels.wordpress.comREO is fast becoming a household acronym, almost achieving the same success of its predecessors TV and USA. REO stands for “Real Estate Owned”. Typically, this real estate that has been designated as an REO is owned by the lending institution that has just finished foreclosing on the property. For a property to earn the designation as an REO, the property has to be vacated by the tenants and owners which itself is a long and arduous process.Who are the REO Angels?The primary members of the REO Angels Team include Mary Gonzalez. Ivonne Valdez, and Guadalupe Silva. Yes, there are 3 Angels only. There are male members of the REO Angels team and weshould not call them angels, because after all that would be just plain rude.What do the REO Angels do?The REO Angels manage a large portfolio of properties that are owned by the lending institutions and asset management companies typically involved in the foreclosure process. The REO Angels aide the bank in securing, marketing and selling the aforementioned large portfolio of properties.Why should I care who they are?If you are a homeowner in distress, having trouble paying the mortgage, the Angels provide one-on-one consultations to help you through the foreclosure process. If you are a first time buyer of real estate or an investor looking for some great deals in real estate, the experience of the Angels will help you in your search for the perfect investment or the perfect place to call home. Of course, the “perfect” designation takes into account the suitability of the purchase according to your current financial situation.
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Okay, gang here's what's comming down the Pike!! When this program hits the streets short sales will truly be SHORT SALES.Anyway, myself and 4 of my agents were blessed with being selected and trained during the 5-Star Conference via Webinare, to be on the 4 front of this new program that will be comming to a city near you soon. When you see the words Home Telo's approved Short Sale , these properties will close in 30 days or less. Thats right lender approved short sales!! What a concept. Not all homes will qualify for the program and there will be a screening process. To some this up in a NUT shell this is how the program will work.A BPO is completed on the property within 72 hours of completing our BPO the lender will have had a 3 rd party apprasial or BPO conducted and sets a price at current market value they are willing to except for the home. The property will then be placed on the maket local MLS and www.bidselect.com where it can be bid on. Highest bidder assuming lenders price is met, will go into contract to close within 30 days.During the marketing time the home-owner has to maintain the home, remains in the home and is resposible for keeping it up for showing. The investors/lenders etc have finally figured it out!!!. It's cheaper for them in the long run to keep people in homes, maintaining them rather than them being vacant, and getting everything of value (A/C Units, Copper, Appliacnes, Light Fixtures etc) stolen.This should bring about some stability to the market and great opportunities for first time buyers that are overwhelmed when they step foot in some of the REO homes out there. They will have to be left for the investors to pick up at rock bottom prices,because they will be the only ones buying them when these short sales hit the market. This should be a WIN WIN for everyone.So Buyers Agents, When you see HOME TELO's you better act fast, because once this gets out , there will be 10-15 offers on each property, just like the turnkey REO's. That's my tip for the month...1 of 500 out of 135,000. If you were invited to the Round Up during the 5-Star Conference then you know what this means. For those of you that don't and would like to know shoot me an email if you can't figure it out..(Staci it was nice to see you at the Round Up!)
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As many of you know I was at the five star default convention last week and now I am back with my family and animals! I had 4 things on my 5 star to do list and I am glad I got them done and then some!With that being said I am sure you want to hear about my 5 star default conference adventure!! I arrived late Tuesday night. I was elbowed in the head on my plane ride by the man seated behind me but I know something of that nature would happen. Without fail I am a target everywhere of some kind! (wink! wink!) We stayed at the Hilton Anatole. I was impressed by the size of the hotel my husband was not impressed by them not having a shuttle. that's a whole other blog that I am not going to get into.Wednesday in the Am I went down to get my new badge cause mine was wrong. Everyone there had a color coded badge and the people who were wearing red, black or green where being hunted down like deer during hunting season. It scared me a little cause I was stuck on an a full elevator everyone was blue except the guy net to me. He was black and the minute someone spotted him he was attacked. I got off asap and didn't even look back.I ran into some Internet friends by the main info area! Nesli is from San Diego. We have talked several times and exchanged REO info back and forth. I called her looking for her and she was behind me. She was looking for my dark hair and didn't recognize me. No worries I got that all week. She is a great person and I am glad to have met her! There were sooooo many people it was hard to find anyone. I guess it doesn't help that I need a new eye glass prescription and couldn't tell who anyone was till I got close.I did have 1 class that was on my to do list and that was the reo trans class. I needed it to get certified. I have used the system before so most of the information was not new. I did however get to chit chat with the CEO. Very nice man and he helped answer a couple questions that I had that were not answered during the class. If he ever needs to buy in the OC I have a great realtor for him!
Wednesday eve were 2 receptions. I went to the first one and ran into a large group of people I chat with on yahoo groups. They are in my inbox everyday and was glad to meet them. They kept me laughing, entertained, and safe.The second reception was very very crowded and I got lost from everyone I knew and was approached by many interesting parties and was about to leave when I again found my friends. I had a great time! I also got some work done at the show. CA was 2 hours ahead so I was still getting questions asked.
Thursday AM was the awards breakfast. My phone died and I forgot my charger. I had no way of calling anyone and about 4000 people were waiting to get into the breakfast. I have night blindness (it was dark in the breakfast room) and I already told you I need a new prescription so I sat down at the nearest empty table I could. It filled up pretty fast so I was not alone for long. I was chit chatting with everyone. The man next to me and I where talking about Denver and Orange County. He then told me he was the CEO of one of the Asset management companies that was on my to do list. Once he told me who he was....all the agents at the table gave him their card. I wasn't about to give him mine and have him remember me that way. We had a great conversation about his company and he asked me my opinion on a couple things. I felt bad for him cause he kept having people ask him for his card while we were talking. He was very polite and told them to wait till he was in the booth at the expo hall. Anywho.....Breakfast was great and the people who got awards were well deserving! I was impressed!
Expo hall was a zoo!! I walked around and talked to some companies but I waited to come back till it wasn't so crowded. I soon realized that there were a ton of people there to get their foot in the door with REO. Many, many people where cutting in line and pushing and it was not a scene I wanted to be in. I did however get to borrow a iphone charger from a man at REDC. They are an auction company and they had Eric Estrada there taking pictures. I charged my phone and came back down to the expo hall. Less crowded and now I could talk to the people I wanted to without having to worry about someone cutting me off. I was talking to a rep at FirstAM REO and one of my fellow active rain friends recognized who I was. Thanks! It made me smile and the FirstAM guy will probably remember me for that!I was signing up online again w/ FirstAM cause the guy said the software changed. I am with them but he said it couldn't hurt. As I was signing up I had 3 more vendors come talk to me. I even had a auction company want to hire me as a project manager. I am going to stick to REO though...I am kinda good at it. I then moved out of the hall to go find some more Internet friends. As I was waiting I started talking to this man w/ no badge and found out he is w/ another direct lender that I was hoping to talk to. I guess I was at the right place at the right time again!! I soon had to get some work done online and get ready for First Preston Round up.FP was # 3 on my to do list and I was totally impressed by this company. I am so lucky and excited to be a listing agent for them. They are innovative and down to earth. They have a contract in the works with a bank to dramatically change the way short sales are looked at and done. Again, I am so lucky, happy, excited and fortunate to be a part of their local ambassadors.There was a man there that asked 2 really good questions and turns out he is another friend of mine who likes to play in the rain! Jon is a great guy and really nice to be around. He and I got excited about First Preston together!!!Friday was the lender open house and again a crazy mad house! I was so not going in the rooms so I stayed outside and talked to lenders as the passed. I was pretty much over worked at this point and ready to go home. I did have to stay and go to the res.net cert class in the afternoon. I found Jon and his friend Mike and we sat thru the class together. They had a test at the end which was easy if you had used their system before. I was so tired and ready to get out of the hotel since I had been indoors for days i went out to the pool. Another Internet friend of mine from San Diego named Katrina and I chit chatted by the pool. My hubby was pretty tired of hearing about REO and I could tell he was more then ready to go home.I learned a some new things and I met some great contacts. I will defiantly go next year.....as a key note speaker!!! LOL!~Stacie
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Posted by Seb Frey on September 10, 2008 at 5:30am
I often wonder, how good am I doing, really? You always hear about how the asset management companies grade and score you. A few of them, you can actually see your score - but the rest? Pfft. Who knows. So long as the listings keep coming, I guess we're doing OK.This morning, I got a broadcast BPO request from a company that also does REOs, but I have never listed an REO with them. The guy who sent the request out mistakenly did not use a "bcc" - blind carbon copy; that is, every recipient got to see all the other recipients. It was interesting to see who else in my area is doing BPOs!One of the recipients did a reply-all back, and said:"The one and only time I did BPO work for your company it took more than 90 days to get paid, and I had to write letters and threaten to sue you to get paid at all. $60 for an interior BPO? Are you sure you want to pay that much? Perhaps you can find someone who will do it free of charge, just to do you a favor."Yeah, $60 is cheap for an interior BPO. But you're missing the point. Even $100 is a trifle, if you value your time. Is not the whole point of slogging thorugh these miserable BPOs to get a crack at the listing? This business is really a lot of work. I guess if you're trying to make a living on BPO fees, I can see the rancor. But that's thinking pretty small, IMO.Also this morning, I got an e-mail from an asset manager questioning one of the BPOs I did for another agent's upcoming listing. There was a big discrepancy in the square footage between me and the other agent - about 1,000 square feet. I had used the actual assessor's data for the square footage figure, which as I understand it, we're only supposed to count legal square footage. So I wrote back to the asset manager, and explained the discrepancy, sent along a copy of the assessor's data sheet, and also mentioned how when the house had sold in 2005, it had sold in-line with prices for 2,000 square foot homes, not 3,000 square foot homes.I am guessing that the listing agent for this property didn't actually look at the assessor's data, but pulled the data off the MLS. But that's not the shocking thing. The shocking thing is the image that was used for the "front view" of the property. This company uses the "front view" image from the BPO as their "thumbnail" image for the property, which they show on their consumer web site of REO listings.What was the biggest thing in the picture? The side-view mirror of the agent's car. The house itself was practically a speck, partially obscured by trees, and the clearest thing in the picture was that side-view mirror.I have a theory. My theory is that most people do a mediocre job of whatever it is they are doing. Surgeons, lawyers, physicists, carpenters, presidents - you name it, the average person in that capacity does mediocre work. Few are truly exceptional. The same is true in the default services side of the real estate business. Actually, that's also true in the traditional "retail" side of residential real estate as well.The lesson here is: don't waste time worrying about how you're doing, especially not compared to how everyone else is doing. Be diligent, apply yourself, be honest, and work like hell. The rest should take care of itself.
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I did an interior BPO a week or two ago on a rural property out in a kind of exclusive part of Santa Cruz county. None of the homes are alike, the parcel sizes and qualities are all different, the houses range from brand new estate-type properties to...well, older estate-type properties. There are probably a few normal houses thrown in here and there, tucked away behind different hills and knolls.One thing I sure hate to do is tell a client the asset is worth more than it is. Hate it. So I spent a long time on that BPO, weighing various factors, and came up with a price that I was sure it would sell by in 30 days. This is in a very desirable area, where there have not been any REOs in recent memory.The listing hit the streets today (not mine): $100,000 lower than what I said in my BPO. Yowza. That ought to sell in a matter of days. I expect I'll see it 'pending' here by this time next week, unless they get multiple offers (very possible) and the process drags on a bit.But it's a point well taken. I have another REO listing - big, beautiful, 5-year old house, the kind that everyone in town wants to buy (if they can afford it). I listed it based on the active comps and recent solds - lower than all the active comps, lower than all the recent solds (most of them also REOs - or short sales). Actually, lower than all solds for all time in that subdivision.And then, one after another, new REOs came on up and under-cut my asking price by 10%. And they went into escrow, blip blip blip. And then the short sales in the neighborhood dropped their price. And now, suddenly, in a matter of 3 weeks, the listing goes from the best priced in the neighborhood to practically the highest priced.The lesson here? Get super aggressive with the pricing. The asset manager sets the price, anyway - better to price it a little low then to risk getting stuck with a listing that can turn out to be priced too high and have everyone beat you on a race to the bottom.
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I don't know if you've been hearing the rumors, but there's a gathering consensus that the sub-prime mortgage market was just the beginning of the REO wave, that next up we're going to see more "prime" mortgage defaults and foreclosures. Check out this article from the New York Times, for example.That's my sense of it, surely. Most of the REO listings I've been getting have been in Watsonville, and most of them, I'd guess, were sub-prime borrowers stuffed into loans they couldn't really afford.Now, I think we're going to be seeing lots more prime-borrowers, stuffed into loans that they could barely afford, but with with Americans being profligate spenders and abusers of debt, they have now borrowed themselves into a hole from which the only escape is foreclosure and/or bankruptcy.I kind of went through a blessed dry spell where I was not really getting many BPOs, maybe just 2-3 a week. I have kind of cut back, anyway, ignoring all broadcast requests and accepting just the BPOs from my bread-and-butter companies who also give me listings.This week, though, I have had as many orders as I've ever had - and, interestingly, many of these are higher-end properties. Some of them are very high-end: estate type properties on acreage, or beach properties with ocean views, etc.Time to wax my surf board and get ready for that next wave, I guess.
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The other day, I got a new property assignment. "Hmm," I thought, "that address looks familiar." Turns out, I had done an interior BPO on the property back in December of 2007, for a short sale. That was kind of a puzzler - I know I turned in a value higher than the contract price (the seller's agent met me out at the property and said, hey, this is our contract price) - but considering the location and lot size, the value I gave it was fair to all concerned.But OK, say that my valuation was hire than the contract price, and the buyer was not willing to come up. Strangely enough, this property was never listed for sale on the MLS. Incredible. Here you are, facing foreclosure - and you're not going to list the property for sale on the MLS to at least even try to get out from under a foreclosure?The whole strategy of "pocket listings" of short sales kind of confuses me, to be honest. I really think a Realtor is doing a disservice to their client by keeping a short sale a secret. Perhaps in some cases the client insists that nobody know - but c'mon, what shame is there in doing a short sale these days? About 1/3rd of all the listings on the MLS in my area are short sales or straight-out REO properties.Hmmm. Well, I've ended up with what should be a nice listing in a popular area. So thanks for that, but I'm sorry things had to work out this way. Now instead of being the nice Realtor who came to take pictures of your house to help you get out from under this burden, I'm the nice Realtor who's going to negotitate a Cash for Keys to get you out of the house. Sigh. All in a day's work, I guess.
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When you think of a REO Agent, what image pops in your mind? Do you see some well dressed, luxury car driving, wildly sexy, speak with a foreign accent Realtor or is it more of a blue jean and polo wearing, pick up truck driving, only sexy after a few drinks, sounds like they just walked off the farm Realtor?
The reason I ask is because, I recently walked into a group of older, mature no less successful than myself Realtors only to discover, my “image” didn’t fit their crowd. It was obvious to me when I pulled up to the meeting I was attending and saw nothing but, Mercedes, Jaguar and Lexus in the drive that I was going to truly be out of my element but, I was going to face this demon head on.
You see, even though I can afford those things, I have had plenty of success in real estate and, still am. I choose to be much more restrained with my image due to the fact, I purposely want to break the stereotype that surrounds my profession. You know the stereo type, the one about how Realtors don’t work but make lots of money and take ego centric pictures of themselves to put on their business cards………yeah that one. I hate this stereotype with a passion, especially as a REO Agent because, REO’s take much more work than your standard listing.
So, after my meeting, I realized this group just wasn’t my crowd or my cup of tea and, it was time for me to make a gracious but, quick get away, so out the door I headed and, to my surprise, I heard my name bellowed out in the back ground. Ready for a confrontation I turn around and see one of those pretentious rick-a-tarts headed my way. He pulls me to the side and says, can you believe this place? I was ready for my practiced answer and said, “No, it’s beautiful but, not right for me” and he said, “me to!” What, was this possible, did I happen to run into someone who felt like me about all this over done hoopla?
Come to find out, he was in town from Georgia and preparing to move his family up here to Tennessee. He mentioned that after attending this “meeting” we were at he was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to do business up here in Tennessee like he did in Georgia, which to him was more laid back and welcoming. After a tour of my office I changed his perception and now a couple of months later, I am realizing that my perception has changed as well.
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Common Short Sale and REO Myths.
I am shocked and this misinformation out there that is being passed as reliable. To combat some of these silly and often gullible myths, let me outline some for you today.
1. You can ridiculously low ball banks because they have built in projected losses on their REO’s and Short Sales. In other words, they all have a “sweet spot” selling price and if you know what it is, your offer will be accepted.
a. The first problem I have with this myth is to believe this silly idea is like saying that when they made the loan in the first place, they were betting on default. Let me assure you, that isn’t the case hence, the fall of the sub-prime market and resulting credit crunch. I don’t know any banker or for that matter any consumer, who took a risky loan with the idea they were intentionally going to default.
b. My second problem with this myth is that to believe it, you are assuming banks don’t have a clue as to market value. My goodness people, these are banks we are talking about. My point is, they are this nations monetary backbone, I would think they would know something about market value and fair pricing, wouldn’t you? Banks hire agents to go out and provide opinions on a properties value before they ever put it on the market. Typically they get more than one opinion from several different agents and therefore, they sometimes have more knowledge than the buyer’s putting in the offer!
c. The third problem I have with this myth is that is creates weird expectations and speculations on behalf of any prospective buyer. People who believe this can’t understand why their offer was refused. In fact, it puts a lot of Realtors in weird situations where they are writing up silly offers on homes that they know the bank isn’t going to consider. Then when the all to obvious counter comes bank, the buyer wants to be offended or looses faith in their Realtors abilities.
In short, this myth is bad for all involved. It creates hostilities, resentment and hardship. We as Realtors who work with REO’s and Short Sales must do a good job in educating our buyers or even other agents that yes, we will present the offer, it’s our duty however, DID YOU DO COMPS BEFORE SUBMITTING THE OFFER? If not, you might want to!
We have a lot more myths out there about Short Sales and REO’s I would love for you to share your ideas and thoughts…..thanks.
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Hi All!
I am now in a postion to seriously expand my REO business. If you have any suggestions on websites, AM Companies or people I should, meet greet or become a member of, please let me know. By the way, I am in Tennessee so I would only be interested in companies that do business here in my state.
Thanks!
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Hi, I just got in from the week spent in Las Vegas. I was there for the CRS Training, which was so-so, and also the "secret" Vegas conference put on by AVM (Asset Valuation and Marketing), CalREO, and Atlantic Pacific REO. I have done some BPOs for AVM (probably a couple of dozen?), and long ago I signed up with CalREO but never heard a peep back out of them.At the conference, we got to meet the boss of CalREO. I asked him if they did any work in Santa Cruz county, where I am based. He said yes, absolutely, and that he had just fired his agent there. I asked him who that was, he hesitated, and said the agent's first name.I know all the big REO agents in the county, and of course, there are not very many of them, perhaps a dozen that do any volume, and this guy he fired was indeed a big one. Of course, this agent has lots of clients, so his business won't just dry up and blow away, and I'm sure he'll be fine. Sounds like he had a bit too much work to properly service CalREO's listings.Anyway, I hope I can pick up the business. The conference itself was OK, I didn't really learn a lot, but that's not why I signed up to go - it was all about the chance to meet the decision makers. Will it pay off? Time will tell!
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Ok, so, I got to thinking, what if we (REOPro) created our own designation? Sounds great and all however, I want it to be the kind of designation that makes a difference. When people say they are a REOPro, I really want it to stand for something. With as much experience as we have on this site, maybe we can do it. Of course, right now, it’s just a pipe dream however, I am no Amy Winehouse, my pipe dreams come true…...occasionally.
So, what ya think, could we do something like that? Would you be willing to help and add content or material? Better yet, do you have a contact that would be willing to sponsor a training program and in return, use our members, who have passed training as their dedicated REOPro Agents?
Before any of you start biting at the bit…..bear with me here. Take a deep breathe, wait 10 seconds, then exhale…….this is just a thought at the moment. I am taking the temperature of our membership to see if this would even be a possibility. Obviously, it gives you a big clue as to where I want this whole “Social Network” to go but, baby steps first.
In other words, share your thoughts with me, let me know what you think, I would greatly appreciate it.
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So I got assigned a pre-listing where I needed to verify occupany within 24 hrs. I arrive at the property and peeking into the windows I see no furniture, no personal belongings (couches were already outside) and I even asked the neighbors if anybody lived in the property. All indications that the property was left vacant. I slap my lockbox and order my rekey and confirm with the AM system that we're a go with the status. I make it a habit to leave the occupancy letter just incase. Low and behold I get a call the next morning from the owner of the house and he was inquiring about the letter! I explained to him that he no longer owns the property and the bank has hired me to sell the property. Naturally he insists that its still his property, the bank never sent any kind of warnings. I had to call off the remaining tasks and revert to a occupied status. The AM was not happy, and of course now I need to assist with the evict. Who has this happen to? I assume we can make these mistakes with all the assets we need to followup on. I'd like to hear some stories. Did you not know it was occupied and rekey a home? Did the AM give you negative scores for giving the wrong info? Inquiring minds want to know...
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How important is it that you belong to a REO organization or have a REO Designation (which have started popping up the last 2 years)? Is there a clear cut answer? I have talked to many people over the years about this. I have attended the Five Star Conference the last 3 years and I have been a member of the NRBA (National REO Broker's Association) for probably 7 to 9 years (not sure). The question you have to ask yourself, is what or how do they benefit you. I have found that the number one thing that they provide to you - is NETWORKING with other Realtors, Asset Managers, and industry representatives. You can not attend one of these groups annual meetings and not learn something that benefits you in your day to day operations. Their monthly newsletters and magazines are full of information that can and will benefit anyone in real estate. I have not personally worked toward any REO designations, but do feel that it would be a benefit to any Realtor (as long as the designations are offered by a reputable organization).
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www.NRBA.com or National REO Brokers’ Association of America is a new site to me. I just came across it from a fellow REO Broker who gave NRBA some high marks. I have to be honest, when first viewing the website, it didn’t instill any confidence at all. It appeared to me as if they were some awkward knock off of Shop at Home.com. All those little boxes, solid white background, red writing, I swear I thought I was about to buy a gold electro plated magnetized wrist joint amplifier for 3 easy payments of only 19.99. Either way, I am glad to see they are “renovating” the site, hopefully it helps.
Once I got passed the strange exterior, I decided to dig a bit deeper and see what this site is all about so, I did what any red or blue (depending on what part of the country your from) blooded REO Broker would do and that was click on “Real Estate Professionals Start Here”. Ok, I may have been a bit hard on NRBA in paragraph 1 of this commentary however, now I am truly being as serious as I can be. After clicking the link, I am taken to a black background with red and white writing power point flash presentation of how I can make 6 figures by becoming a member of NRBA! By this time, I am now truly turned off, to me, this whole thing has come off as a rainy day garage sale on the wrong side of town. Truly, I tell you, this whole website has just come off as if they went into Goodwill and asked the marketing person to design a website. So, 2nd class…… (by the way, I like Goodwill, when I was kid, it was the only place we shopped, we didn’t have much back then. In fact, sometimes I still go, now it’s a bit different obviously but, I do like the store and donate maybe once or twice a year.) As I suspected, it was fairly predictable where this screen shot presentation was leading, I was asked the 20,000.00 question, “Join Now!” My first thought was, are they serious? Then I quickly realized, oh hell yeah they are serious…….lol.
So I pressed the button, not because I was impressed by the presentation or marketing ploy but, because my REOPro Agent colleague gave this group of people a huge thumbs up and said I should join. Once you hit the button, you’re taken to a 2nd screen where you can read some of the FAQ’s, it’s small so you have to be determined to look for them but, you can find them and read them over. The first question is, “Can anyone be a REO Broker?” ultimately the answer was No! but, not for the obvious reasons like, commitment, dedication, work load, long hours, etc….., they said it was because they all wanted to protect their 6+ figure income. ROFLMAO! Are you serious, by now I really felt this was an exercise in the absurd but, I went along with it. After reading over all the FAQ’s I felt as if I had just finished reading a bad version of the Top 10 List with David Letterman. Granted, I found some useful information like cost, which my REOPro Agent Colleague forgot to mention but, overall the FAQ’s almost seemed a waste of web space and band width.
Speaking of cost, it isn’t cheap, it’s 1999.00 a year paid monthly or annually. That wasn’t cheap for me, I am a bit of a tight ass hence, I still visit Goodwill occasionally however, I didn’t think 1999.00 wasn’t going to be a cost that many Realtors would be interested in paying in the first place, I am sure it’s going to protect some bodies 6+ figure income. I read a little further because I still had this overwhelming almost nagging voice of my REOPro colleague saying, “you should try it, I did and it is working for me” screatch across my forehead like a Mack truck applying the brakes on a downhill 9% grade highway. So, I got ready to hit the Join Now button and, then BANG! A flash of lightning hits my neighbors tree and we loose power. Ok, I will be honest, no flash of lightning however, I did loose my power because my dog’s tail wagged and somehow turned off the power strip. So, here I am now, not sure if I should join or not, I don’t really know much about this organization other than what my REOPro colleague said about it. I figure I should get some more insight so, if you are a NRBA member or a holder of the CREO Designation they offer please, leave a comment and convince me either way, should I join, or should I steer clear!
Thanks in advance for the help!
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Did you know you are graded on everything you do with an AM? You are graded on the quality of your BPO, the time it took you to turn it in, the pictures (following specific instruction) and if it is complete.Your REO listing is graded on all of your tasks and by each AM you come in contact with. So basically you are under a microscope the minute your profile is even viewed. Crazy huh?? I am always wondering what my grade is and I try to beat around the bush to find out what it is and they NEVER tell me. I am still getting assignments so I guess I am doing something right. Another blogger (JESSE) posted that AM's are looking for a 95% grade or higher to continue sending you REO listings. I thought....Wow an A!! I was always a B student so an A feels pretty good. I guess I should have applied myself a little more. Then I think...naaaahhhh I would probably still be where I am now in RE doing BPO's and getting REO listings. I think those A's would have been nice but THESE A's really mean something!!Point of my blog is don't be a B student. BPO mills probably don't grade but the companies that solicit for REO's should have top priority and you should put in that extra effort. Cause if you don't.....I WILL!!
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There will not be much argument from just about anyone that Google has developed some awesome free products that make the life of a real estate agents life a lot easier. On top of making so much available for free, they allow others to go ahead and enhance and customize their applications.This is such a tool.It starts with the basic Google Maps that I am sure most who read this currently use in their lives – one way or another.The company that built this free tool is Virtuoo who promotes on their website “Stuff for Realtors!” Looking around, it appears they earn their money with some pretty nice Virtual Tours.They have developed and give away for free a “Efficient Route Calculator” that allows you to enter up to 10 random addresses before you hit the ‘Submit’ button, conveniently located right below the addresses. How simple is that?The program then opens up a new page and in just a few short moments a fully expandable standard Google Map shows up, with both the Hybrid and Satellite option. The good news is all of your locations are there and mapped out – round trip!What is nice is you can even add another destination – I have not had to use this feature, but my guess is you could add an indefinite number of locations to your route.EASY DIRECTIONSBelow the map is a section they call “Computed Data”. It starts with the round trip duration and length of your trip, if you were to drive straight through. This alone makes the program worth what you paid for it. Wait a minute, it’s FREE!!! This feature makes it worth a fortune when you are doing your taxes!!!Then in Google Map familiar fashion, you are given turn by turn directions starting with your start point continuing to each location on your route, in the most efficient route. Of course, the distance on each road is included, so you have an idea how far you must go before the next turn.NOT PERFECTJust like everything else in life, this tool is not perfect – but it really does a great job working for me.First, I prefer the Firefox for my Internet Browser and when I print the highlighted line that represents my route does not print. I understand it works best with Opera web browser and works OK with both Safari and Internet Explorer.I wish I could right click and save the map as an image, but it won’t allow that. Too bad. However, I do save each map, on a daily basis, as a web page – when I go to the FILE pull down menu and select SAVE PAGE AS (Control S) and choose the ‘Web Page, complete” option to a folder I call Daily Trips in MY DOCUMENTS. I then have a folder for each month and simply name the file the current date.What’s nice is I can go in and amend routes after I have traveled them, documenting my mileage. You know for those unexpected trips to Office Depot or something that takes you an extra 5 miles out of your way – we need to account for that mileage.There are more notes that you can follow from links at the very bottom of the page, where there has been some trouble shooting discussions taking place – but for me, the only flaw is printing with Firefox. Truth be told, as long as the icons of my route destinations show up with the turn-by-turn directions, I’m a happy camper.There is also code available to add this to your website and allowing you to create a default starting position. I get in trouble when I mess with code, so I’ll just use it the way it’s published, thank you very much. (It would be a nice widget to have in my blog though, wouldn’t it?)HOW CAN THIS BENEFIT YOU?As an REO real estate agent, I see multiple uses for this program. The obvious is to take a buyer out and show several properties with a nice clean route already determined.The tool is also very helpful for managing my inspections of my REO properties, since they are scattered in a 20 mile radius I create a new list adding the property each time I have a new assignment, in a particular area. This way at $4.25 for a gallon of gas I can maximize my driving efficiency and not letting a property slip through the cracks, when I’m in the neighborhood. It also allows me to provide the same information to my contractor, so I can accurately monitor his mileage. (We have to constantly keep costs in line, don’t we?)Another use is with BPO’s. Comps are always close by and when I have the opportunity, I like to check out as many as I can. So, when I am researching a BPO, I will add the addresses of the Subject and the Comps to the grid. This way if I need a picture, I know exactly where I am going – but it really is helpful when it lets me physically check out a comp – after all, I may have a buyer if it is that good a deal.So, how can you use this to make your life as an REO Agent easier? Please go ahead and leave your comments below.John Occhi, REO REALTOR®Century 21 Crest – CrestREOJohn Occhi is a REO REALTOR® thatspecializes in the sale of bankowned homes in the Inland Empireregion of Southern California. Hehas helped many buyers acquiregreat deals on these REO homes.His company, CrestREO, the REODivision of Century 21 Crest – the77th largest C21 in the Nation, hasSold Over $1Billion in REO Sales.
OK, this may be a little optimistic, but the Wall Street Journal recently published an article with the same headlineYou can check it out here.Go ahead and read it - and them please leave you thoughts below as to how this relates to the REO market in your area....John Occhi, REO REALTOR®Century 21 Crest – CrestREOJohn Occhi is a REO REALTOR® thatspecializes in the sale of bankowned homes in the Inland Empireregion of Southern California. Hehas helped many buyers acquiregreat deals on these REO homes.His company, CrestREO, the REODivision of Century 21 Crest – the77th largest C21 in the Nation, hasSold Over $1Billion in REO Sales.
REOPRO is a new site that is focused on REO Agent education. At the time of this writing, there are about 150 members. From a very rough review of the site, my guess is about half of us have little or no REO experience and want to break into the niche du jour while the other half has been doing this long enough to think they know what they are doing. I like to think I fall into the later category.As with any new site, our success depends on one another. I hope that we do not fall into two different camps – those in the know and those wanting to know. We are all here, I assume, to grow and better perfect our trade.MY METHOD - BLOGA method that I have been very successful with in my own personal growth is to teach. When I teach, I am forced to research and know the answers before I share them. Now, I don’t teach in a traditional classroom or even with traditional students. Rather I write.That’s right, I will find a topic of interest to me – typically one that I know enough about to be dangerous – but not an expert. What usually prompts me is I question something that I think I know, but am not sure of. So, I research and I document my research. Other times, I write about my experiences as I go through a certain aspect of my business / life.If you are a seasoned REO Agent, then you have something to share. I know you are busy, but this is an effort that will come back and reward you many times over – if you do it right.If you were to Google my name, you’d find that I have over 400 articles published – most on my primary blog – HemetRealEstateBlog.Com. I do have 4 or 5 other blogs that I write to on occasion, plus I am a guest author on another handful of blogs. When you Google me, make sure you check out Video as a search option and you’ll find that I have nearly 200 videos published as well – all of them from the very early days of video on the internet – March to June 2006. I quit, because I was not satisfied with my editing capabilities and I thought I looked goofy. However, there is not a month that goes by when I still don’t receive a phone call or email asking a specific question about the content of one of my videos.I share this because a public forum like REOPro can give you instant credibility and it helps everyone else who participates.MAKE THE MOST OF REOPRONow, this is a site that is dedicated to REO real estate and not all aspects of real estate. So, I for one truly hope that we will not see a bunch of articles that are off topic – you know what I mean…no one cares bout new home sales, FSBO’s, or any other real estate topic that cannot be tied to REO’s.OK, so if you are new, what can you write about? Well that’s easy…document your journey. Write a diary of what you go through to build your business. When you see something that someone in your market is doing good, let us know…then again if you see something that someone in your agent is doing that gives REO’s a bad name, let us know that too.Being new to the niche will mean you have the most questions. Instead of asking the same questions over and over again in different blogs, why not turn your question into your won blog post and solicit help from readers. I would suggest a format where you ask the question and give your best idea of what the answer is – and ask for clarification and further input.GOOGLE AND SEOBy generating your own blog, you are now generating your own credibility – both here in the REOPro community as well as in your own market. The good news, the more article that are written the more Google and the other search engines will respect this site and give us higher search engines in our own market. I’ll add some article here about blogging and the search engines – but believe me when I say, the more the merrier for everyone.The second step you can take to make REOPro a more productive networking platform is to add comments to others blogs. If you read something that makes sense to you – or maybe it doesn’t….leave a comment for the author. As a blog writer I can tell you that comments on my blog validate me which encourage me to write more. Maybe you missed Stacie Cunninghamsblog article about me - well, I've got to tell you it motivated me to start contributing here.Way to network Stacie!Another task you can take on yourself is to invite others to REOPro - remember, the Team spirit - Together Everyone Achieves More!Finally, the way I see it, REOPro is so new that we are on the ground floor. This can get as big and as important in our industry as we make it. Can you imagine the clout the agents who started NRBA or REOMAC have in those organizations today?So, to all of those REO REALTORS and those who want to be, welcome to this site and I hope you will make it your own.John Occhi, REO REALTOR®Century 21 Crest – CrestREOJohn Occhi is a REO REALTOR® thatspecializes in the sale of bankowned homes in the Inland Empireregion of Southern California. Hehas helped many buyers acquiregreat deals on these REO homes.His company, CrestREO, the REODivision of Century 21 Crest – the77th largest C21 in the Nation, hasSold Over $1Billion in REO Sales.
