Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

BPO's

BPO's
On average, every other day I have a BPO to perform. Today I have a BPO to perform and have no desire to do it.

You might be asking yourself what is a BPO? I'll explain.

BPO is an acronym for Broker Price Opinion. Broker Price Opinion's are essentially the same thing as an appraisal.
If your not familiar with what an appraisal is I'll define it for you.

ap‧prais‧al [uh-prey-zuhl]
A valuation of property (e.g. real estate, a business, an antique) by the estimate of an authorized person.

The reasons I'm hired to perform a "BPO" can vary and I'll give the top 3 reasons in the order which is most common.
1. The property has been foreclosed on
2. The property is part of an estate
3. The property is being sold and the buyers/sellers mortgage company would like to make sure the property is being sold for a reasonable price.

In the state of Ohio an appraisal can only be certified and conducted by a licensed appraiser.

A licensed appraiser has the same credentials as a licensed real estate agent and more.

However, any experianced and educated real estate agent usualy can perform a BPO which would provide roughly the same value that a licensed appraiser would.

The difference is the amount of compensation an appraiser receives compaired to the amount of compensation a real estate agent receives for performing a BPO.

Please don't get me wrong and think appraisers are overpaid. you do get what you pay for.
Appraisers have better programs and usually provide more detail in their reports than would be received in a BPO.

Closing Time!

When a buyer and a seller have come to an agreed purchase price and have also agreed to all of the conditions in the purchase of land/home they both set a closing date.

The writing in the contract usually will read "closing will be held on or before" a specified date.

With this being said I'd like to tell you a story.

I have a client that I'm showing homes to and we found a home she decided she wanted to buy.

We write an offer and the seller wasn't willing to lower the price to the level my client was willing to pay so she walked away.

This was actually a good thing since my buyer had then found out the lender could lend her money until she made a few changes to her financial situation.

Buyer made the changes and 6 month have passed, and ironical the seller that wouldn't budge has there agent call me to ask if my buyer is still looking and if so that the seller is now very motivated.

I check with my buyer and she said Tom I was just wondering if that home was still available or not.

We write an offer the seller accepts the offer and in the purchase agreement we agree to close the deal within 5 weeks.

5 weeks come and pass.
Then 6 weeks.
Now 7 weeks have passed and officially after the 5th week the seller can sue my buyer or put the home back on the market:(

This is a very bad situation since we are several weeks past the closing date and the buyers lender keeps coming up with reasons we can't close.

The lender is a broker that sells mortgages through lot's of different lenders and this normally isn't a bad thing but sometimes lenders that don't actually lend the money aren't respectable.

I'm not implying this lender is a bad broker but a deal shouldn't take 4 extra weeks to close.

We closed yesterday and everything is now "I think" fine!

Moral of the story, Research your lender before you commit to them.