Outsourcing Parts of Your BPO Work

I have talked with numerous agents all across America in the past year and many of the top producers are outsourcing parts of their BPO work.

One thing that they outsourced (that surprised me) was the data entry part. Many would outsource this work to someone else. Some outsourced the data entry side of their BPO’s to people in India. They would pay a ‘VA’ (virtual assistant) a few dollars an hour and they would do the data entry for them on any BPO’s the agent had coming in. (Unfortunately, I was sad to learn that some BPO and REO agents would let their ‘VA’ go into their MLS, pick their comps and some would even let people in an unlicensed person [both those that live in the US as well as those that live in a foreign county) decide on the final value on a BPO order.)

I personally don’t believe in this option. Call me ‘too proud’ to outsource to a third world, but I believe in keeping work here in the US. If someone is trying to save money because people in the states charge more than I think that there are better options.

When talking to these agents most times it is because they are clients of BPO Automation Group. They are wanting to automate their BPO work. Most times this means doing away with their ‘VA.’

I praise them on this decision and fully support this choice…and not just because this means that I get their business. From my own experience with having my own team helping me with my BPO’s, I found out that it is better to rely on automation software as my ‘VA’ then on a person…no matter where they live.

When your reputation is on the live and many times a means to have a livelihood, then I personally feel that it is critical to be in control of many important aspects of your business. To me this means making sure that you are the only one involved in picking all of your comps for each order and overseeing the data entry side.

p.s. I realize that this blog posting may be contraverial. Please be warned that it was not my intention to offend anyone.

What are your thoughts on this?

I Refuse To Do A BPO Now Without Automation Software…..

I know that the title of my blog may sound like I’m a big spoiled baby when it comes to doing a BPO by hand or what I call ‘the old-fashioned way.’ I know that I not the only one who also thinks this way!

I am a BPO Automation expert and as such I’ve gotten completely spoiled when doing the data entry for my BPO’s. Mind you on top of running the BPO Automation Group, Nicolesdreams eBooks and being a certified real estate instructor….in my spare time (which comes up about once a month for a few hours) You can find me doing a few BPO’s.

Because of my connection with the BPO Automation Group, I am able to utilize many of the tools and services that we offer to other BPO and REO Agents for their own business, when doing my own BPO’s.

Although, I don’t do BPO’s them full-time, I still really enjoy getting in a putting on my Sherlock Holmes investigator’s cap as I search for clues and tidbits that will help me formulate how much I think a specific property is worth.

I’ve gotten to the point that I absolutely refuse to do any BPO without using automation software. I guess I’ve gotten spoiled. But it goes to say that first came the horse, then the cart….then the buggy….next the car…. the same notion applies to doing the data entry for my BPO’s. First there was me doing absolutely everything within my BPO business, then I hired data entry helpers….then I learned about automation software and let my help go….. So, here I stand 3 years later on the tip top of a huge mountain that I have been steadily climbing. And as I look back to the bottom of the magnificent mountain and I follow the path that I took to get here, I thank GOD that I made it in one piece….ha…ha…..

I must say that I am truly thankful for the experience of making the journey and for being so lucky as to have learned that there is a much better way to do my BPO work. Without it, I’d be stuck on the side of a cliff-face on that monstrous mountain, hoping I can hold on just a little bit longer and that my poor fingers don’t give out.

How Are You Holding On Within Your Own BPO and REO Business?

Warmly,
Nicole Ocean

Come Join in a ‘Coach-a-Thon’ Session by the NFSTI REO Masters Network

Come hear me speak live on a conference call about “BPO Automation Made Simple and Profitable.”

I’ll be sharing inside tips and tricks so that you can learn how to benefit from automating your BPO and REO orders. I’ll also be discussing auto-accept software on the call. You will not want to miss this………

Come join me on Wednesday September 2nd at 12 pm PST (3 pm EST)

Click here to learn more and to register for the call!

You Can Use Automation Software to Auto-accept More BPO Orders by Nicole Ocean

I wanted to write a quick note here because I know of a way that is guaranteed to get lots more BPO’s and a way to automate the data entry side of your BPO and REO orders. You can do all of this by using Automation Software. I talk in depth about it in my eBook and Video on the subject.

I also give step-by-step instructions on How to Use the Automation Software to Auto-accept More Broker Price Opinions orders for you. It works behind the scenes while you are working.

If you haven’t learned about this yet it is one of the most guarded secrets that many TOP Producing REO & BPO Agents use!

Feel free to visit my website to learn more or simply give me a call with any questions!

Warmly,

Nicole Ocean

BPO Trainer/Realtor

www.nicoleocean.com

www.automatebpos.com

360-223-2482

Nicole Ocean, Moderator

 

Want to Know Why You’re Not Getting BPO Work? by Nicole Ocean

Greetings!

 I’ve decided that it’s time to speak out about explaining why some people don’t get BPO work right away after signing up with various BPO, REO and Asset Mgmt companies.

 Over the past 2 years I’ve spoken with handfuls of other real estate professionals who are wanting to get into the Broker Price Opinion business. Times and opportunities are getting tougher for those who are just coming into the BPO and REO business.

 A lot of people that I speak with don’t understand just how important it is to be educated about the current status of the BPO industry as well as be informed about just how much competition there is within their current local market. You can go to www.reonetwork.com to see who your local competitors are.

 From my experience the BPO industry has become even more competitive than a year ago and for good reason. In the past few years there has been an explosion and impeding implosion within the lending industry (“the sub-prime mess,” where the clean up process will be around for awhile.) Plus, many real estate markets across the U.S. have suffered from declining markets, REO and short sale driven markets as well as homeowners and homebuyers being affected by the economy. 

With all of these factors staring us all in the face, more and more real estate professionals turned to and found out about BPOs and REOs and thus decided to dabble in BPO work. Many people decided to do BPO work to help supplement their income while others may be doing them to get REO listings (this is where BIG money is at) and then there are those that are just trying their hardest to simply stay in real estate. I commend all of you, no matter your motivation! You are smart for seeking out opportunities and alternatives that are only going to help your real estate career. Give yourself a pat on the back!

Here are some of the suggestions and explanations I share with people about why they aren’t getting BPO work?

**Existing competition with more time and experience in the business**

**Not enough volume of work to support the current amount of BPO vendors**

**Companies became a lot more strict about only hiring people with experience**

**Some companies have closed their door on accepting new vendors**

**The person applying to be a BPO vendor didn’t do something to “stand out,” from other or given the companies that they are applying to a good reason to hire them.**

**These same people stop pursuing the possibility of becoming a BPO vendor for companies because they only take the time to sign up at their website and do no other type of follow up**

Lastly, I would recommend that if your expectation is that you can sign up with a new company today (10/20/2008) and think that you will get work tomorrow you need to adjust your expectation level. Not to say this kind of thing doesn’t still happen for some people, but for most you have to treat your BPO business venture just as you do your real estate sales career.

I think the key to anything is to be as educated as possible about anything that you want to master. So, as you jump into the BPO world with both of your feet planted firmly on the ground, don’t be afraid of having to sweat a little bit to get what you out of the BPO and REO business. You can do it! Hopefully, with this blog you understand more about why it is harder to get BPO work and you can take this information to help you achieve your immediate need to get BPO work.

Plus, if you have a need to ask some pretty specific, hard to get answered questions, feel free to give me a call 360-223-2482 or visit my website: www.nicoleocean.com Plus, I’ve got a wonderful resource where you can read through over 140 different BPO and REO related topics, it’s called the, “BPO Student Forum,” check it out at my website!

Best of success to you!

www.nicoleocean.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Warmly,

Nicole Ocean

 nicolesdreams eBooks

 www.nicoleocean.com

 www.nicolesdreamsebooks.com

 360-223-2482

Is it Really Getting Harder to Break Into the Broker Price Opinion Business? by Nicole Ocean

 I have been doing Broker Price Opinion’s (BPO’s) full-time for 2 years, since September 2006 in fact. I see myself as a non-traditional Realtor because most agents don’t do BPO’s and instead do real estate sales full-time and some may need to have a part-time job on the side for when sales are slow.

   In January 2007, I wrote an instructional manual (an eBook) on Broker Price Opinions that is entitled, “All You Ever Wanted to Know About Broker Price Opinions.” I’ve been blessed able to help over 1,700 other real estate professionals all across America in the last year and a half.

  Because of this experience I decided to branch out and do BPO training and consulting work alongside of doing BPO work myself. I’ve been offering my training services on BPO’s and have had some heartfelt conversations with fellow BPO Agents.

   During my phone conversations with these various BPO Agents I seem to pick up on an underlying theme and topic that keeps coming up and so I wanted to address it here and see what you think.

  People were asking me, “Is it Really Getting Harder to Break Into the Broker Price Opinion Business?” I am not afraid to answer this question and tell them my thoughts and perspective on how I feel that the a lot of real estate professionals have been jumping on the BPO Wave these last few years. Who would blame them? It is a wonderful niche market within real estate and a lot agents and brokers who have hit the wave at just the right time are now ‘hangin ten’ and enjoying the swell of REO business that they have worked so hard to get.

   I feel that there are still many people wanting to get into the business and have just found out about it! I don’t want to discourage any of these people and say that there is no real opportunity for them any more because they missed the wave as it was cresting. This just isn’t true!

   There are many new BPO Agents that are just now getting into the BPO and REO business and are able to still be very successful! Especially in market areas where is not a huge saturation of BPO and REO Agents. I myself live in an area where the typical BPO/REO Agent is an older agent that has been in the real estate business for 10-20 years. They’ve paid their dues, seen a few cycles and simply just put in a lot of hard work and dedication into their business. Anyone that is going to be successful (no matter what type of business they are in) will have to do the same! 

   The biggest encouragement and advice that I can give to people wanting to get into the BPO business right now is three fold.

 1.) Do your research and educate yourself. (Learn as much as possible about BPO’s and the business, either from going to conferences, buying material on the internet, joining forums or going to seminars)

2.) Put in 100% effort and commitment to make sure you succeed as a BPO/REO Agent.

3.) Simply give it your best shot, take a risk and see what happens! “You will never know what your future holds if you are hesitant and cannot take that first step towards building your tomorrow!” (Nicole Ocean)

What are your thoughts?

How Being a Real Estate Assistant Has Prepared Me for the Future

After college, my goal is to go into the mass communications/journalism field. I originally wanted to be a TV Broadcaster like Katie Couric, but I’ve been told my voice is too high-pitched. (Oh well…starting broadcasters have to live in the middle of nowhere anyway and I don’t want that ) Then I decided I wanted to work as a reporter for a newspaper, but my experience on the college newspaper has changed my mind about that- I wouldn’t be able to deal with the intense deadlines and working into the wee hours of the night to get a story done. Plus, I want to be able to have a life outside of my work, and I’ve heard that is very difficult when you are a beginning reporter. So, I’ve changed my mind again, and currently I hope to go into public relations or marketing communications. Next I’ll probably want to be a magazine editor or a celebrity photographer…who knows?

Whatever path I chose to take in the field of journalism and mass communications though, I have found that my job as an assistant for Nicole has actually been very beneficial for my major and career goals. I find that I have the opportunity to do a lot of writing and even some editing at work. I’ve learned a lot about research, sourcing and marketing from helping Nicole with her e-books. I have even helped to transcribe tapes before, which gives me great practice for taking notes quickly, which comes in very handy during interviews.

In addition to preparation for my career goals, the job has given me a peek into the world of real estate and book writing, and a glimpse into what it is like to be your own boss (something I think I would definately enjoy ). So whichever path I end up taking, whether I become the next editor of Seventeen Magazine or I have a change of heart and go into selling homes, I will always be thankful for the wonderful opportunity Nicole has given me and the amazing array of things that I have learned!

Top Secret Way to Find More Broker Price Opinion work by Nicole Ocean

I wanted to recommend a great way to find more BPO work that not many BPO Vendors even know about. This is by logging into companies that offer a button where they can click on it to, “Get More Work,” or “Find Work.” This is the title that many of the companies use within their website.

As an extra BONUS I’ll mention some of the companies that offer this feature are:

EML

LandAm

BPO Direct (they now do not do BPO’s directly, they go through LSI and Clear Capital)

Countrywide

HAM

Proteck

If you’d like to keep adding to this list, that would be great!

Enjoy and best of luck to you,

 Nicole Ocean

 nicolesdreams eBooks & nicolesdreams eBooks Consulting

 www.nicoleocean.com

 www.nicolesdreamsebooks.com

Why Do Broker Price Opinions? by Nicole Ocean

Doing Broker Price Opinion work has so many advantages within your real estate career. I wanted to list a few key advantages to doing this type of work in comparision to working the traditional angles of concentrating on the Real Estate sales side of the business.

Doing Broker Price Opinions has:
 1. Helped bring in a consistent, steady stream of income
 2. Helped me stay in the Real Estate field
 3. Providing me with opportunities to educate myself on many areas of my business.
 4. Kept me in the market everyday as I drive around taking photos of various properties. This way I am always learning about what is available, the new developments, the price ranges, what is in pre-foreclosure, a tax lien property, a short sale and a foreclosure, etc.
 5. Provided me with an opportunity to be in line to be eligible to receive REO (Real Estate Owned, Bank Owned) listings.
 6. Opened my eyes into the foreclosure and investment market
 7. Assisted my in becoming stronger on valuing properties which in turn helps me produce better BPO reports as well as helps me value potential listings that I have an opportunity to help sell.
 8. Made me look forward to the potential to enjoy a stable, fulfilling and rewarding career within real estate, which I hope will last for many years to come.

I can finally say that, “I truly LOVE my life and Love My Career!” How about you?
 
 Warmly,
 Nicole Ocean
 Realtor/BPO Specialist/Owner of nicolesdreams eBooks
 www.nicoleocean.com
360-223-2482

Not Getting Enough Broker Price Opinion Work? A few reasons why…by Nicole Ocean

I was just catching up on the posting within my blog this afternoon and wanted to address some very important points that I mention to others when they email or call asking for advice.

If you don’t get business right away or are not getting enough business, it could be because of a number of factors. Within the last few years many agents, brokers and appraisers have jumped on board and started doing BPO’s and some have gotten REO’s. Plus, as many of you are well aware of the foreclosure rate throughout the nation has increased, in some areas it has started to drive the local market (I don’t know about you but the foreclosure rate has jumped up from this time last year and short sales are a common, more cost effective alternative to foreclosure in my area of being in Bellingham, Washington).

With this trend a few things have happened. More companies have gotten tighter on their new vendor application process & requirements for new BPO/REO Vendors wanting to get into the business. Some companies have even stopped accepting new vendors because they have enough quality agents already.

Another sad but true reality is that the fees that companies offer to do a BPO have decreased. I’ve seen the downhill shift occur personally and accept it as part of being in this business. I look at it as just needing to do more volume and work like heck to consistently provide good quality orders so that the favor is returned to me by means of having all the work I could ever hope and ask for.

Within any segment of real estate we are driven to a certain degree by having to deal with competitors and having to work really hard for the business that we get. The same applies to BPO & REO work.

One site I recommend people checking out to learn who their competitors are and how many of them are doing BPO & likely REO work is:

www.reonetwork.com

They have a search feature where you can put in your city, state and zip code and then do a radius search. You will be able to find out the top REO listing agents (Most times they pay to be featured as a Premier Partner and stand out from the crowd by being placed at the top of the page). You can read their profiles and see who they work for and many times how long they have been in the business. You can also take this info and go to your local MLS. I’d recommend doing a search on any of the people listed to see how much REO business they are currently getting.

Then mirror who they are working for, where they are signed up (websites to promote themselves), etc.

This will help you understand the amount of work that is being shared in your area, plus you will learn a lot by watching your competitors to see how they do what they do and who they work for.

Plus, the only real way to get more work is to be proactive, just like you would do in your real estate sales side of your business. It’s all about building relationships! In the case of BPO/REO work it is super important to build relationships with lenders, asset managers and reps as well as be able to provide something that others cannot do as well as you….and on a consistent basis!

When you do get orders, knock them out of the ball park and beat your deadlines! Also, if you can avoid having your orders stopped by the Quality Review team then you should be able to get more work.

Remember the amount of work available to you depends on a few outside factors. Competition, amount of work available, your vendor rating with each company you receive BPO’s from, the fee you charge and being able to stay out of trouble with the company. (a.k.a. quick turn around times, meeting the deadlines they give you, being consistent, picking good comps, providing accurate values, keeping your orders out of QA (Quality Assurance) and overall just by providing outstanding orders. Who wouldn’t want to give you more work if you meet all of those expectations?

On an end note, the more companies you sign up with, the more you increase your chances of gaining work. Also, if you do not hear back from them in a while or even right away after signing up with them, then pick up the phone, introduce yourself to them and ask if there is anything else they need from you (W-9, a copy of your real estate license)….start building that relationship!

Hope this helps you understand more about why you have to work really hard in this business to get work, then the key is to work even harder to keep it and make everyone happy in the process!

Best to you all!

Nicole Ocean

BPO Trainer/Realtor/eBook Author & Consultant

www.nicoleocean.com

www.nicolesdreamsebooks.com