REO Rockstars - Your backstage pass to WILD success in the REO Business » REO Resources »

(Lack of) SPEED KILLS! - A Useful REO Time Saving Tool that Instantly Gives You a 33% Boost!

REORockstars — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:08:20 +0000

Do you know the #1 killer of an REO business? No, it ain't strong competition bubba (gosh knows there's a gaping hole where THAT should be)! And it isn't bad luck either. It IS the in-ability of lazy, coffee-drinking, sit at their computer all day, whine and moan about the economy, God's gift to REO, "prima donna" brokers, to get off their fat butts and get their tasks COMPLETED on time! Let me tell you, if you want to be tossed to the curb quicker than Tiger Woods at a Swedish family reunion, then you just GO AHEAD BE LATE big boy! Your Asset Managers will cut your legs out from under you so fast that your competition won't even notice you've disappeared! O.K. look, when you're selling bank owned foreclosures, it is absolutely CRITICAL to have ROCK-SOLID systems in place, to handle the multitude of things that are thrown your way every day. Each new property means another round of tedious tasks and another pile of paperwork to rifle through. Intimidating-YES! Easy to manage?-NO! That is, unless you "get" the whole "don't put the cart before the horse" thing. What I mean by "get it", is that you NEED to understand, that creating LEVERAGE for your staff, BEFORE you take on a ton of listings that you're going to wind up "under-servicing", is THE key to success in the world of REO. Many agents simply choose to jump in head first and mistakenly think that they'll just "fake it 'til they make it"-WRONG...and bluntly-a business killer! As I tell my REO Rockstars, every day, you need to take a good look around your business and actively seek out little time-savers, that can increase the "speed" of your operations. Minutes, even seconds, REALLY add up when you are processing hundreds of tasks day in and day out. Let's look at one of those "biggies" that seems to rear it's ugly head in the businesses of most REO brokers that I know-LATE BPOs. Now, for those of you who don't already know this, a Broker's Price Opinion is where the actual listing process begins with an REO property. Not only are your clients going to to look for you to provide solid pricing advice on your BPO, but they're also going to look for you to deliver these suckers ON-TIME, EVERY TIME. In my business, as we went through extremely rapid growth, getting our BPOs done became a serious challenge, and I have to tell you, solving the puzzle of how to get them handled better was a real mind bender. Sure, I could have just hired MORE valuation specialists to help me out. ANYONE can do that. But who in their right mind wants to exponentially increase their expense, instead of taking the added profit straight to their bottom line-NOT ME fella! Smart brokers, heck, smart BUSINESS PEOPLE always look for ways to get more out of what they already have. And that's exactly what I did. So let's look at the process: (how we USED to do it in my office and how MOST agents STILL do)

1. My team gets a BPO order (or we have a house that is vacant and we must provide a BPO in a specified time frame)

2. My Field Services Manager creates a "Field Report" sheet and hands it off to a field representative for completion, along with a daunting heap of other tasks to be completed the same day. I also follow-up with my own inspections.

3. The field rep hits the streets, on a 8-10 hour "road trip", rushing to get to all of his properties before the sun goes down.

4. The field rep turns his "Field Reports" in to the Field Services manager the following morning.

5. The Field Services Mgr. uploads the "Field Reports" and all associated photos, etc. for each property, on to our sever.

6. My Valuation Mgr. begins working on the BPOs.

So do you see a flaw in the process? An obviously kink in the system? a BIG time gap that's sucking the productivity right out of my business? Think about it...it's REALLY obvious. With this system I was totally bleeding out. I still can't believe I was able to survive...

OK here it is (for those of you "slower" types) In our "system" above, we are waiting a FULL day before we even START working on the BPO! Many of my clients give me only 48-72 hours to get a BPO done. So, right out of the gate I've wasted a MINIMUM of 33% of my time. You're sure not gonna win any horse races with THAT kind of start! Kinda reminds me of the good old days in real estate, 19 years ago, when we had to lug around a heavy "telephone directory" sized book full of real estate listings and black and white pictures. We had DOS based, painfully slow MLS systems and cell phones with 10 pound batteries in a bag! It was just plain hard to be get anything done fast. You literally had to cart around so much crap that you felt like you were "living" out of the trunk of your car (which incidentally was ALWAYS filled with paper files....FORGET trying to load up any luggage and escape for a deserved weekend vacation...no time and NO ROOM!) Point is...we have technology today. Get out of the dark ages and EMBRACE IT! Otherwise, you'll be left in the dust. Business moves pretty fast. It's VITAL that you keep up.

So here's what I did to fix this and to IMMEDIATELY bump my efficiency by more than 33%:

With the help of my developer, Brent Guest, owner of BHG Digital, we simply created "online" field reports. I then gave my field representatives each their own portable "netbook" computers. With these tools, they simply log-in to my website right from the house they are inspecting, while they are out in the field. They proceed to complete their field reports on-line and then... "voila"-my Field Services Mgr. receives the information instantly via email in a nice, easy to read PDF format, and she uploads the information and pictures right to the server. Having the information delivered in "real time" eliminates the need for us to wait an extra day, to receive the information from our field reps, and we are now able to deliver our BPOs EARLY (which, by the way, is what Asset Managers REALLY want. A BIG point scorer) . A cool thing about these forms, is that you can install them on your field reps' computers, or you can do like I do, and integrate them into a secure password protected area of you website, so that they can be accessed from any computer with internet access, and also so that you are never at risk of them being deleted or inadvertently modified. They are VERY easy to use either way.

Like many little "tweaks" you can make in your business, to make it run more efficiently, this one really CAN make you a lot more money. While you might know that most Asset Management companies have "scoring" systems that grade you based on your ability to complete REO tasks in a timely manner, do you also realize that many of them negatively ding your score for being "on time" vs. "early"? My REO Rockstars do! By using tools like these online forms, I always make sure that my team delivers EARLY every time and my AMs reward me with huge volumes of assignments every month. Now THAT's what I call using leverage to bring more cash straight to your bottom line!

View Sample Forms Here -

Want to get your own copy of the POWERFUL EFFICIENCY BOOSTING Online Field Report Forms, and AUTOMATICALLY make more money by working at high speed WITHOUT extra-effort? Click Here for a special arrangement I have made with Brent and BHG Digital, to let him distribute them to other REO brokers. (yeah yeah......YOU'RE WELCOME

1 Quick and Easy Way to Get HUNDREDS of Extra Man Hours Out of Your Staff.

REORockstars — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:42:05 +0000

You know, when you do a lot of volume in REO, you spend a lot of time looking at the big picture and you sometimes forget about the small improvements that could greatly impact the efficiency and morale of your team. Sit here for just a moment now and imagine that you are sitting in your office chair trying to get a little work done. As you stare at the words on your computer screen, words that look a lot like the ones you see on your screen now, black on a white background, you begin to feel yourself tuning in. The more you stare at these words and the the tasks they represent, the more you settle into your place and get so focused that you can almost feel your chest rise and fall with each breath you take. You are in your zone, to the point that you are feeling super energized and ready to accomplish the work of two or maybe even three people. Then all of a sudden...

RING! The stinking phone rings, and blows your concentration completely! It's an agent on the line asking you for a lock box code! You think to yourself "I have so much important work to do and I can't believe that I have to answer these kind of calls." You hang up and feel a little frustrated from being pulled unwillingly out of your focused "super accomplisher" mode, but you clear your head and dive right back in. Then RING RING RING...there it goes again. Another "lock box" call.It happens over and over again all day long as you try to work until finally you're totally flustered. Unfocused. Day blown. Kaput! I am sure that by now you really get the gist of what it is that I am trying to point out here. There are things in your business that screw it up every day almost unconsciously. And the more of these things you permit to invade your business, the more money you LOSE! Hey, do you look around enough every day to see these things happening. WOULD YOU EVEN NOTICE? Honestly? As the boss, it's sometimes easy to forget the little "nags" that seem to infiltrate your business every day. These little VAMPIRES suck the life right out of your employees and absolutely kill productivity. Well, if you're like me, you will NOT have this happening in YOUR business! In the business of selling bank owned homes,, with constant pressure on the prices of foreclosures and on commissions, and with the multitude of tasks that need to be accomplished each day, it is CRITICAL that you squash these little "time suckers" as soon as their ugly little heads pop up. You simply MUST run an extremely tight ship to stay ahead of the game. To me, the phone is a vital part of my business. And it is absolutely crucial for an Asset Manager, Buyer or an Agent to be able to get through to a live staff member very quickly when they need to. You ALWAYS want to strive to provide the highest level of service and part of giving great service is being readily available to colleagues, clients and customers (if you don't "get" this already then you need to seriously rethink ANY sales career my friend But what if you could head off some of those calls that could be easily handled "automatically" without your participation, so that you and your staff could stay totally focused on productivity. Heck, how about if these little things could be handled without you even knowing that they were done? Well,the phone thing is very simple. In my business, we have implemented an online password protected spreadsheet, that only agents can reference, to obtain current property status information and lock box codes. We simply provide the private web address and pass code for them to access the list and we avoid any distracting calls. It's a document sharing platform provided by a company called EditGrid. And here's the best part. It is FREE! On our end we simply keep the spreadsheet updated with current information and then when agents need the information, they simply view the document online and they never have to call you. Hey, it may seem silly but I find that seemingly "small" tricks like this can end up saving me a couple hours of lost productivity per employee on a weekly basis. When you annualize that number it equates to HUNDREDS of man hours. Think about that. What could you accomplish in a hundred hours? TONS! It's little things like this that allow me to continually outproduce my competitors while keeping a smaller staff. Hey, it's not brain surgery here. Smaller Staff=Less Overhead=HIGHER PROFIT! I'm no math genius but I like the answer to that equation! I'll teach you this and other tricks on REO Rockstars calls and I'll show you exactly how to get these things set up in your own business and to learn how to sell foreclosures in the most cost-effective manner possible. Until then, take a good hard look at your business and see how many little fixes you can come up with. Look around. Ask the staff. I think you'll be surprised at how many you'll find.

5 Useful REO Tools

REORockstars — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:52:08 +0000

There are certain tools that can just make life a heck of a lot easier if you're an REO broker.

RoboForm2GO Pro is just about the best little piece of software that I have ever purchased. It auto-fills registration forms and remembers passwords to all of your clients' on-line platforms. I cannot tell you how strongly I feel about having this little tool. It WILL be the best $49.50 you have ever spent. I prefer the RoboForm2GO Pro version. It can be loaded on to a flash drive and you can take it with you wherever you go. Get RoboForm2GO Pro version here RIGHT NOW.

Your website should be very "buyer sticky". By that I mean that it should give buyers reasons to stay around and seek out more information. Let's face it, buyers want to see homes. They don't care about how great you are or about your silly sales pitches. I have always gotten the best results by providing a "one stop shop" for REO searchers. I found exactly ONE IDX software that can be fully customized to your own specs - IDX Broker. Do not be fooled by companies who say there's is customizable. If you can't have access to the code then you can't really customize. For example: on my site REOAtlanta.com I have been able to code in special parameters that identify potential REO properties and short sales in ways that I could NOT do with any other IDX provider. This is like GOLD to REO investors and they come back to my site over and over each day. Try IDX Broker. It's the only truly customizable IDX solution on the market today. Don't know how to custom code? No problem. Email Brent Guest of BHGDigital LLC for custom web design (he does 100% of mine-including REO Rockstars.)

For BPO information I use a service called REDLINK. They don't service a lot of states but see if they service yours and use them if you can. It's a big shortcut to information for my valuations staff.

Lastly, I have a self-designed site called UnlistedBankHomes. It is a subscription based site for investors where I list homes that are about to hit the market. We list the homes here after getting a listing agreement from the seller and IMMEDIATELY before placing them on the market (we also give information on pre-list homes but it is very limited). This information makes investors drool and keeps them locked in to you as the expert resource they seek out. I would recommend using every one of these tools if you are going to be serious about making serious money selling REOs. Check them out and get 'em!

Great REO Resources

REORockstars — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:15:41 +0000

It is extremely critical that you have the right information and good resources for insights into the REO industry. I for one am a big fan of one of Donald Trump's sayings: "Know everything about what you are doing". Two resources truly stand out for me: DS News is the REO industry's resource for industry events and information that's of high interest to every REO broker. Each year they publish their famous "Red Book" that highlights the major financial institution players in the business.

RealtyTrac is the number one provider of accurate real estate and REO statistics. This is THE best place to get data feeds, widgets and foreclosure article RSS feeds to dress up your website and make it "buyer sticky". The Foreclosure Trends subscription is the real "hook" for investors. Get it here.

Again, if you need help setting these tools up simply contact Brent Guest at BHGDigital LLC for custom web design.

Get Found by REO Managers

REORockstars — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 00:21:42 +0000

Hopefully you've purchased RoboForm2GO Pro and are registering with every company on the REO Blackbook registration list .

You also need to set up accounts on these two platforms: Res.net allows you to register up to 100 zip codes per account. So if you are a large broker and cover more than 100 areas you will need to set up multiple accounts (I have 4). Res.net is only about $250/year for each account.

Equator (formerly REOTrans) allows you to list as many zip codes as you like and you pay a per zip code monthly fee. Equator is much more expensive than Res.net but you must be listed on BOTH. Asset managers routinely search these databases for agents located in a certain proximity of their REOs.

In addition to being on their own in house systems, many require that you use Res.net or Equator to process the sale of their properties.