Real Estate Agents: Learn How To Earn Extra Income With Broker Price Opinion Orders (BPO)

As a real estate agent, your business may be affected by the current economic downturn. Your ads are no longer selling and your buyers take forever to make purchase decisions. In the meantime, you still have to pay for office expenses, broker fees, MLS subscriptions, alimony, etc. In this article I will discuss how you can earn additional income with your real estate license in addition to selling houses. Specifically, I am referring to Broker Price Opinions (BPO) for banks. I’ll also reveal a technique I personally use to get those BPO orders in ahead of other agents.

BPOs are basically mini Comparative Market Analysis (CMA). Banks order BPO every time they want to know the value of properties. This could happen on many occasions; for example, the owner may be applying for a refinance, or the owner may be in default, or the property may be in foreclosure or in need of a short sale. There is currently a high demand for these BPO orders due to the foreclosure crisis. Since banks require BPOs to be performed by licensed real estate professionals, you can put your hard-earned license to good use.

There are two types of BPO. An exterior BPO does not require you to enter the property and typically pays $40-$50. An interior BPO requires pictures of the interior of the property and typically pays $60-$90. Granted, you don’t make much on every BPO order, but keep in mind that a BPO can be completed in less than an hour or so. Just do 3-5 BPOs a week to help pay for your basic expenses.

“Where do I find BPO orders?”

Although BPO orders are handled by banks, contacting banks directly would be a waste of time as most banks do not handle them directly. Instead, they apply for BPO through asset management companies. A quick way to find these companies is to google “bpo asset management companies”. During your search, you will come across some companies that are really just directories. They usually require you to pay a fee to appear as a BPO agent. They claim by listing in their directories that asset managers will find it. I’ve never had any luck with them so my advice is to save your money.

Once you find these companies, simply login to their website and register as a “supplier”. You will be asked to complete an online application with your information. Most businesses will require a copy of your real estate license, your E&O insurance information, a W-9 form, and a list of zip codes or city names for the area you covered. Once you’re registered, you’ll start receiving emails every time a BPO order is available. To maximize your chances of getting orders, you should try to sign up with as many companies as possible. I have personally registered with 15 companies and I know that some agents have registered with more than 50 companies.

One thing you should pay attention to is that some of these asset management companies are called “BPO shops” where they only handle BPO orders. Clear Capital is a well-known example of such a company. On the other hand, some companies can also handle REO properties for banks. If you do a good job with your BPOs for these companies, you will have the opportunity to get REO listings. Some companies, like Integrated Asset Services, will give you the list of the property you BPOed on if that property ever becomes REO. So, if your goal is to eventually become an REO agent (which it should be since listing REO properties is EXTREMELY lucrative), then you may want to avoid those BPO shops and focus only on companies that can provide you with REO listings.

“Okay. I signed up but can’t get any BPO orders! What should I do?”

Then he started receiving emails of BPO requests. He was excited, but when he responded to those requests he discovered that other agents had already taken the orders. What happened? Well, when most asset management companies send BPO requests, they don’t just send one agent, but all the agents that cover that particular city or zip code. Whoever responds to the email first receives the order. He may reply to his email the moment he receives it, but his email program may only check the mail server every 30 minutes. Therefore, it might still be too late by the time he answers.

What can you do about it? Do you need to sit by your computer all day responding to emails? Here is my solution. I use a separate email address specifically for BPO orders. Then have all emails sent to this address forwarded to my cell phone email address as well. Most cell phone numbers have email addresses associated with them. For example, a Verizon Wireless cell phone would have an email address in the form of a cell phone number @ vtext.com, where “cell phone number” is the phone number. You can contact your cell phone service provider to get that information. Once it’s set up, every time a BPO request comes in, I get a text message on my cell phone right away. So I can reply to email right away. I have been able to get more than 90% of the BPOs since I implemented this technique.

You now have enough information to enter the BPO industry and the knowledge to beat the competition. Start earning extra money with those BPO orders when your regular business is slow and you may even get hundreds of REO listings in the near future.