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I'll cut the guy some slack. He said he paid $80 bucks for the BPO, which means he paid the agent for his time. He might have wanted to go this route to see what the numbers looked like and then go the appraiser route if the numbers looked good.
It sounds to me like he didn't get his $80 worth.
Actually, he has a quibble with the lender, methinks. What lender hires out a BPO instead of an appraisal?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Campfires
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I recently had a Broker's Price Opinion done on my property... I was charged $80 by my lender for this steaming pile of crap.
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Like others, I've never heard of a lender accepting a BPO for eliminating PMI.
I used to work in lending for a credit union and then a big bank. Neither one would have accepted that as a basis of eliminating PMI (although the credit union never charged PMI, they would still require an appraisal for anything relating to "market value" of the property, such as re-adjusting the rate of an ARM).
I recently had a Broker's Price Opinion done on my property ... I was charged $80 by my lender for this steaming pile of crap.... So when I keep harping on other members that any idiot can run comps so you should do it yourself, now you know why. I literally have never run into a competent agent who provided any value.
Most any agent wasting time doing $80 BPO's isn't going to be a good agent. Even if they are knowledgable they aren't going to spend more than the minimum time required to complete the BPO. If an agent is qualified, competent, and thorough they probably wouldn't even take on a BPO for even a few hundred unless it was for a possible listing.
To do them correctly and complete the forms with detailed information takes a few hours. A good agent can earn much more than that per hour. So yes, good agents will would rather spend their time on just about anything else than a BPO- family time, a round of golf, listing a home, showing homes...literally just about anything else. Me personally, I can't imagine spending a few hours on a BPO to only get $80. My time is worth so much more to me.
It's a shame this happened to you. If you complain to the lender maybe they'll be removed from the list so they can't harm more owners or lenders. Unless the states start putting more emphasis on making real estate agents more educated and professional through the licensing process nothing is going to change so the person hiring the agent needs to interview and vet agents thoroughly.
And now you know why you got a steaming pile of crap for a BPO.
he probably would have received some more favorable responses mixed upon the uncomplimentary responses if he had know to post it on the comparable Real Estate forum.
I'd also be surprised at any non-portfolio lender that charged PMI (where was the 20% downpayment anyway?) that would allow you to remove it within 12 months. Maybe if you had a portfolio lender that said once you're below 80% original appraised value, an the OP made some significant extra principal reductions.
So you are mad but your intention was to waste the brokers and RE agents time because all you wanted was a free pre appraisal to see the price of the home so you would not waste $400 on a real appraisal? That's what you are basically saying because your intention was not to sell but to refinance to remove PMI.
Life,
In Illinois, a lender is allowed to use a BPO to eliminate PMI. I paid $90 for a "drive by" which is what a BPO is essentially.
So, a couple of other things. First, you posted this under Real Estate Professionals so you should have reasonably anticipated real estate professionals to challenge you a bit. Second, please understand that your bad experiences are, at most, an indictment of the people you have dealt with, not everyone in the profession. You are painting with a pretty broad brush when you talk about disdain for all. Third, I agree with the others that an appraisal would be far better (and more expensive) but did you drill down to see if the agent made adjustments on the BPO to the comps to make them equivalent to the subject property?
Did you buy it under market? If you just bought it a few months ago, seems like your sales price is about the best comp out there...
Bron,
That's what has me most perplexed. I did likely buy it under market. I was leaning towards a normal appraisal but the lender steered me to this BPO since I just bought the house 6 months ago and it appraised for more than I bought it for back then.
Then this broker does a BPO and compares to all of these bizarre properties that are not even zoned the same as mine and I'm dumbfounded. I called the brokerage to speak with the principal broker and was given the run around. I think it's a pretty fair question to ask why, in their opinion, waterfront does not add any value when waterfront homes in this area sell for twice as much as non waterfront.
Yup. You wouldn't walk into the middle of a dental convention and start screaming that you hate dentists would you?
Well put, like any profession there are bound to be some that are better than others. In many states, there's a fairly low barrier to entry in this profession. So, we tend to have a little more dead weight than some other professions. Plus, consumers often refuse to make a change in representation when they're having a bad experience because they feel bad about the agent not getting paid. So, the dead weight sometimes get paid and often hangs on longer than it should. This being said, I've been to a lot of bad restaurants and I would never swear off the restaurant industry as a whole.
Like others, I've never heard of a lender accepting a BPO for eliminating PMI.
I don't know the OP's market but unless they bought it way under market value as you proposed or their market is absolutely on fire then it seems unlikely that they would be able to get rid of PMI after just a few months.
Mike,
I wrote a check for $xx,xxx to bring the LTV under 80% based on the purchase price.
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