If you are in S Florida and want to increase your bpo case load contact me. I can show you how to complete bpo's in 20 minutes. My team will take your interior or driveby photos and complete your data entry. This will free up your time to take on more bpo's and even expand your coverage area. Why limit your area my team will go from Homestead to Boca. All you have to do is the comparable search and valuation. And yes our photgraphers are licensed real estate agents. info@BPOcertified.com

I would think a lender would be quite upset if the Realtor who was giving the opinion of value had not actually visited the subject property.

Hello Michelle. A unicensed assistant can do any task that does not require a real estate license. That means that simple data entry is fine, but the broker whose name is on the BPO has to compile all the comparable sales and listing info as well as make the necessary adjustments to value to arrive at his/her value opinion. It is debatable whether a unlicensed assistant can go out and take the pictures. I recently received an e-mail from a company that offered a BPO picture taking service and it claimed that the photographers specialized in taking photos that met the BPO companies requirements. It did not mention anything about the photographers being licensed real estate agents. I have discussed this very issue with an experienced professional who offers training for agents who want to get in the BPO business and he said that an agent can outsource the picture taking. That's really the only field work that I can think of when it comes to BPOs. If your broker is not certain, I'd contact the BPO company or bank and ask whether it's ok or not. While I think that the picture taking is the most time consuming aspect of doing BPOs, I like knowing that I saw the property myself and don't have to rely on somebody else's eyes. I hope this helps.

Michelle,

As previously mentioned, "field work" is an extremely vague term that stands in the way of a clear understanding of the situation as well as an accurate response.

The issue here seems to be: What are you referring to as "field work"? Anyone can scout out homes for sale (buyers do it all the time). If you are simply information gathering, it doesn't take a trained realtor for that. If you can be much more specific, we can answer your question more completely.

Good question, that got me thinking. I would say data entry yes but field work no. In order to do "field work" you may have to take pictues inside and out. Gather data from visually looking at properties around the subject house and then gleaning the MLS to substantiate your date. That is where the rub comes in. We as Realtors shouldn't do work outside our area of expertise and I would think that goes for an assistant as well - especially field work.

I would presume that an assistant could do data entry, as that is usually one thing assistants are hired for, so that the Realtor can be out working. What do you mean by "field work"?