Seems like a good idea. We often tell the BPO agent when we meet them at the house what our purchase value is. We are hoping we can influence them with the repairs and condtion of the property to get our value.
And if the BPO agent uses that number correctly, that’s a good thing.
What if we doesn’t use it “correctly”? And what is “using it incorrectly”?
Well, I have an example of using it incorrectly or even unethically.
US Bank, to name names, gave the BPO agent the value on the purchase contract, $116,000. (Isn’t that partly how we got into the situation of baling out banks? Fraudulent appraisals? knowing what the outcome is supposed to be before looking at the house?) So when the BPO agent got to the house, he commented to the investor (not realtor with a license and a board to report to if things aren’t ethical) “I like this house. I think I’ll make a offer. I think I’ll offer $120,000.”
Now, it’s not a listed property. It is a property that the investor will sell to her buyer’s list for more money than the bank accepted and she will make the spread. That is, if she gets the bank to accept the only offer the buyer has signed. So how does he make an offer to the bank without the seller’s signature and it not being listed that nobody else knows the house is for sale? And how does he know WHO to make the offer to at the bank?
Interesting. Well, the funny thing is this guy has done this to the same investor twice. And he did buy the properties from the homeowners both times. The investor was pushed out by a few thousand dollars – did all the work – and how did the BPO agent get the homeowner to sign? That begs a lot of different questions!
He bought the other properties then put them up on his REO site for sale. So he made the spread.
Well, this time should be a little different. My student, the investor, now knows to record something at the court house to cloud the title. So if he pulls this again, he will get tripped at the closing table and have to pay her something to release the cloud and give him clear title.
The better part in this story is yet to be heard. The investor also called the Loss Mitigator at US Bank and told him what this BPO agent had done in the past. She said she didn’t want him to do the BPO because this was a conflict of interest. She proceeded to tell the story of bidding higher on her other properties.
The house was going to the foreclosure sale in two days and they needed the results of this BPO to pull the sale. They both decided to go ahead and do the BPO with this person. the Loss Mitigator did note in the file the situation.
It could be priceless to see the expression on his face when he runs into the cloud or doesn’t get the house or any more jobs from US Bank after this.
I’d love to hear your comments whether you think this is unethical or conflict of interest. Should banks be telling the BPO Agents or appraisers the value they are looking for?
Deb McMillan
Short Sale Queen.com
Recent Comments