Let’s face it. Lenders need real estate agents now to work down the phantom inventory of REO, bank owned, properties that’s backlogged in the system. Phantom inventories are those properties the banks own but have not released to the market place yet. For now and in the foreseeable future Real Estate Owned, REO for short, and foreclosure listings is the market to be working in. One way to become proficient and stand out head and shoulders above everyone else in the REO area is to invest in yourself and to learn as much as you can in becoming your market’s REO agent listing expert on these types of properties.
You need to know the language spoken among those in the REO or bank owned market place so when you get an Asset Manager for a lender on the phone to speak with them about their potential foreclosure listings you can intelligently hold their interest. Sometimes you will be speaking with the REO Loss Mitigation or Prevention Department personnel and you need to know exactly what to ask so you don’t get put off or even hung up on. Remember they receive a ton of calls a day on their REO or bank owned properties from hopeful real estate agents so you need to set yourself apart from the BPO and REO crowd.
One of the most critical and initial piece of the foreclosure listings and REO sales process for the REO Agent is called the Broker Price Opinion or BPO for short. The Broker Price Opinion needs to be as accurate as your research can substantiate. Sure for most real estate agents that’s not a problem but it can be a daunting task if you don’t have enough current comps to go by. In this market of overwhelming numbers of foreclosures becoming bank owned properties the need for the quality REO Agent to work foreclosure listings is paramount. They are in high demand. The key is to become an expert REO Agent by providing thorough and accurate Broker Price Opinions.
Ok, let’s get some perspective on what’s going on in the market place. “IRVINE, Calif. – Jan. 14, 2010 – RealtyTrac® (www.realtytrac.com), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its Year-End 2009 Foreclosure Market Report™, which shows a total of 3,957,643 foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled foreclosure auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 2,824,674 U.S. properties in 2009, a 21 percent increase in total properties from 2008 and a 120 percent increase in total properties from 2007. The report also shows that 2.21 percent of all U.S. housing units (one in 45) received at least one foreclosure filing during the year, up from 1.84 percent in 2008, 1.03 percent in 2007 and 0.58 percent in 2006.”
If what you’ve read so far sounds like an area of real estate that you would be interested in expanding into or maybe as a brand new agent learning more about how you can become an REO and BPO expert then I congratulate you. You have made a decision to consider yourself worthy of investing in yourself and your career as a future expert REO Agent providing expert Broker Price Opinions to assist lenders on working off their bank owned properties and foreclosures. ( Real estate agents are needed by lenders now ). Drop by and read testimonials from 18 expert BPO and REO agents who provide their contact info including their phone number.
