Broker Price Opinion Outsourcing and Management
As the market improves and fewer foreclosures hit the market, the volume of broker price opinion decreases significantly. Many real estate agents find it easier to acquire businesses late in the listing, and therefore many leave the BPO scene altogether in search of greener pastures. What does that mean for the other BPOs? More volume. It is the equivalent of the middle class being squeezed and all the money absorbed by the 1%. Survival of the fittest is the name of the game and only the agents with the most optimized systems, leveraged workforce, diversified portfolios and internal connections to asset managers stay in the game. It also makes sense from a financial point of view to have simplified management of broker price opinion. Does it cost more for an appraisal company to assign 1 agent 100 orders or 100 agents 1 order? Logical, yes. Ethical… that’s another debate.
So what are the secrets to having a streamlined system, leveraged workforce, diversified portfolios and internal connections with asset managers?
1. Simplified system: As a BPO/REO agent, you should have a complete system for managing broker price opinion. A system that tracks each order for the general ledger. A system that organizes each tax record, document and note belonging to the property. If you outsource Broker Price Feedback, a system that receives the assignment back and forth from you to the assignee and then back to you in full, and you get status feedback throughout the journey (think of the automatic email responders). And oh, it needs to be timed! Delivering orders in 24 hours or less will generate a significant increase in business over the standard 48 hour turnaround time.
2. Leveraged Labor: An appraisal company places 100 orders in its coverage area. This company has been dead for 2 months and now is your chance to prove that you are a viable high volume broker. This is when Broker Price Opinion outsourcing becomes so powerful. If you have the manpower to fulfill these orders, companies will quickly realize that you have the capacity to generate a large volume of work, so they will turn to you the next time they need a Go-To agent, creating a snowball effect.
3. Diversified portfolios: This is a crucial aspect of the business. Many agents get involved with one or two high-volume companies and neglect to work with other companies. In a rapidly changing world, some of today’s slow BPO companies are tomorrow’s future, so be sure to sign up with new companies and/or reapply to old companies that rejected your application years ago. .
4. Asset Manager Connections: Create ways to be heard. There are thousands of agents in the field, so you have to advertise how you truly stand above the rest. Each email assignment request has the name and email, often even the phone number of the person who will be checking the quality of your orders. Sometimes the asset manager information will appear on the form. Treat them as leads and get in touch to request more orders. Keep an open phone and email line. Respond to quality checks as quickly as possible.
5. There’s no dot 5, but it’s supposed to always end in an odd number, right?