Sharon

Hi Sandy, if you want to do REO's just to stay afloat, then the REO business wouldn't be for you. There is alot of tedious work that goes into listing and managing REO's. Just like someone below mentioned, you have to fork out alot of money each month to prepare and maintain these properties, as well as advertise. I have one agent in my office that has an average of 30 REO listings per month and his expenses reach over $30k per month in managing, maintaining and advertising his REO's. Getting into REO's is a tough business, like a business you're going to need some capital start up and some of these banks want proof that you have the funds to take care of their properties, because most of the time you won't get reimbursed for 30 days or more and sometimes not until after closing. You have to do weekly checks, monthly reports, weekly photos of the properties, rekeying/lock changes, trashing out the property, cleaning the property, obtain bids for repairs, pay for repairs, put utilities in your name and pay them, landscaping maintenance, pool maintenance, handle the occasional vandalism, squatters or theft on your vacant properties, etc., pay off any delinquent accounts such as an HOA and maintain those accounts. Then you add all your normal real estate tasks on top of that. If you're an At-Home agent with little ones, are you ready to handle all this.........just to stay afloat? I'm not trying to scare you, this is the reality of the REO business.

My advice to you? Find out about your real estate laws concerning BPO's.....some states prohibit you from doing BPO's because they consider it an appraisal and this is beyond the scope of the real estate license. If your state or local MLS allows it, then I highly recommend doing BPO's. You can make as little as you want or as much as you want depending on how many orders you can handle. I know one person who does over 100 orders per month and makes over $5000 per month and this is all he does. This is all I did after I became a new mom and I brought home an extra $2500 per month - I brought my baby with me to go take exterior photos and worked from my laptop in my pajamas most of the time. I would recommend going online to NABPOP, which is the National Association of Broker Price Opinion Professionals, and get certified in doing BPO's.

Another suggestion.....ask an REO agent in your office if you could be a Buyer's agent for them. Alot of times the REO agents don't have the time to do sign call showings, maybe you can work out a deal with them that you'll give them a referral fee or commission split of some sort for them sending the sign calls to you? These are potential buyers looking for a deal and you could be the one that finds it for them. In this current market, some part of a commission is better than no commission, right?

What about teaming up with a couple of other agents and doing a foreclosure tour caravan of the REO's that are a great deal or in a certain area, etc? These are just some ideas for you to be a part of the REO business without actually getting into the business, you know what I mean? Hope this helps! Good luck with what ever you decide to do! - Sat Apr 26 2008, 02:08