Miami has its share of drive by violence. But we are talking about a different type of bad drive by, being the victim of a drive by BPO as a real estate investor. We have been victims and want to help you from becoming a statistic.

We are real estate investors and work extensively in the pre-foreclosure market. Many times sellers are financed 100% or close to it and there is no deal to be had so we try to negotiate with their lender to do a short sale or short payoff. As part of the process the lender needs a BPO to determine fair market value.

What is a BPO? A Broker’s Price Opinion is a market value assessment usually performed by a licensed real estate agent or broker. These are most often done on properties that are in foreclosure. A lot of times when the property is not sold before or at auction, the BPO that did the opinion will get to list the property. Sometimes it can be a full time appraiser looking for extra work that may do the BPO. Because of the fact the agent may eventually get a listing they tend to sometimes give a high appraisal.

Now realize that market value generally assumes a home in great shape needing no repairs. 90% of retail buyers will not buy a home that needs any repairs. Many lenders will not finance a home that needs wood replaced or roofing done.

What is a Drive By? A drive by consists of a BPO going to the house and stopping in front, taking a picture of the outside and driving off. They never get out of the vehicle, never to see the inside or any damage or repairs needed on the property. Comparable sales, past appraisals and tax records will be used to determine the value of the home without taking needed repairs into account. A lot of houses have good curb appeal, once you step thru the front door it’s a different story. We have had the BPO agent miss the fact that a tarp was on the roof to stop the rain from coming in the house because the holes in the roof were on the back of the house and the agent never stepped out of their vehicle.

How can I get an accurate BPO Appraisal? Be there early. Bring pictures and the list of repairs from your first visit. Develop rapport and become best friends with the appraiser. Do your homework on the neighborhood. Look for true comps. Example: If you are looking at a stucco home and the rest of the neighborhood is brick. You can’t find true comps. For future reference if you are in a mid to high humidity area, get a moisture test on the stucco and bring the results with you.

How can I keep from being a victim? Arrive 45-60 minutes before appt. Do not allow the home owner to greet the BPO instead of you. Stay where you can see the road. If you see a vehicle pull up and stop, jump out and holler politely,” Would you like to see the inside of the home”? To make the experience better for yourself and the BPO offer help. Tell them what you have found. Don’t take it personally if they don’t want help from you. Do your homework. Don’t let the homeowner show them around as they will try to point out nice things. Your job is to point out the flaws of the house and drive the appraisal down. Make sure the lender knows you are the point of contact for the BPO agent and to contact you to set up the appointment for the BPO. The pictures that you took on the first visit need to be printed out; if digital take them to a kiosk that makes prints. Have 3 copies made. Put two to a piece of paper, go with colorful construction paper, yellow is a happy color, go to your local office supply store and get printable file folder labels. In detail tell what’s wrong in the picture. Give the BPO agent 1 copy. Let them know what you have found wrong with the house or yard. Give them a repair list. Any true comparable sales you have found within a 5 mile radius will also help. Always pick the lowest comps. You will document a lot more problem area’s with the house than the BPO will see. This will be the difference of making 30k or 5k on a house.

_{»crosslinked«}

Filed Under: Articles , Foreclosures Tagged with Adsense, appraisal, Appraisals, BPO, Broker Price Opinion, comparable sales, Curb Appeal, Different Story, Foreclosure, Foreclosure Market, Full Time, Google, Great Shape, Holes, Lenders, Licensed Real Estate, Market Value Assessment, Pre Foreclosure, Real Estate, Real Estate Agent, Real Estate Investing, Real Estate Investor, Real Estate Investors, Retail Buyers, Roofing, Short Sale, Statistic, Tarp

To sell a property for profit, you need to ensure that your property is attractive, and a large part of that is making a first great impression. Make sure that your property makes a great impression from the curb by cleaning, repairing, and using good color contrast.

If you are interested in real estate investing for handsome profits, you need to consider the curb appeal of any property you wish to rent or sell. A big part of the real estate game is buyer and tenant psychology. One thing that researchers have found about tenants and home buyers alike is that emotional response accounts for a great deal of investor success. In other words, the investors who can appeal to a tenant or buyer’s emotions — and make the tenant or buyer imagine themselves in the property — has the greatest chances of success. Curb appeal means improving the first impression that your property makes. Studies have shown that when the first impression of a property is positive, it is easier to convince a tenant or buyer to invest.

There are many ways that you can increase the curb appeal of your properties without a great deal of time and money:

1) Clean. A very tidy appearance is paramount to good curb appeal. Therefore, be sure to scrub the sidewalk, flagstones, walkway, windows, and siding. Mow the lawn, rake the leaves, clear the snow, and do everything you can to create the neatest possible appearance. You can do much of this yourself, although you may want to hire professionals or at least rent a high-pressure cleaning system for taking care of the exterior tiles or brickwork of a home. If the sidewalk outside your rental property or home is crumbled and in poor shape, you can generally contact the municipality to fix the problem.

2) Choose great colors. The color of your property goes a long way towards asserting good appeal. In general, you want to consider the colors of the properties around your property. If you are selling a suburban home, for example, located in a lot surrounded by pastel colored homes, you do not want to paint your property a right color. It would stand out too much. The right color blends well with the properties on either side of it. Make sure that the colors are fresh by applying a new coat of paint. Don’t forget the colors around the property, either. A bright green lawn or even crisp white snow contrasted with the few pine trees create visual appeal as well. If you’re interested in real estate investing, learn which colors to select, or hire a professional to select the right colors for you.

3) Repair. It should go without saying that you should ensure that everything outside is in good working order and looks attractive. This means that any broken walkways, bare patches on the lawn, and rickety shutters should be fixed up at once. You’ll find more success in real estate investing if you are selling a property that people want to buy.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged with Brickwork, Cleaning System, Color Contrast, Curb Appeal, Emotional Response, Estate Game, Exterior Tiles, First Impression, Flipping real estate property, Google, Handsome Profits, High Pressure Cleaning, home real estate, Investment Properties, Investor Success, Lawn Rake, Municipality, Poor Shape, property flipping, Real Estate, real estate flipping, real estate flipping business, real estate flipping properties, real estate flipping tips, Real Estate Investing, real estate investing flipping, Real Estate Investment, Real Estate Investments, Real Estate Investor, Real Estate Investors, Real Estate Market, Real Estate Properties, Real Estate Property, real estate value, Rental Property, Sidewalk, Siding, Suburban Home, Walkway

If you are in the process of selling your home in Florida then you are lucky to have the ability to take advantage of the great weather to showcase your home. Unlike some other states that have to bear a cold snowy winter, the year-round beautiful climate means that homes for sale can really utilize their maximum curb appeal all the time. Yards and curb appeal can really impress buyers and draw then into the home for a closer look at what is being offered. Without that all important curb appeal, they may never make it to the front door.

If you think back to when you bought your home, what was it that caught your eye? What aspect was it that made you fall in love with it? These are some of the things that you need to feature, and then some. Its important to have “visual hooks” in the front yard. These could be anything from new paint to custom gates to a well manicured lawn or colorful flowerbeds. Anything that you can do to make the home shine is great!

In addition to these ideas, take some time and consider the small things. Is the driveway cracked? If so, then trim up the edges of the lawn (if necessary) and resurface the driveway. This will help to create a welcoming entrance way to your home. Also if there is a deck or porch in the front, its a good idea to redo the wood if it has become weathered. Try to make your home look like it is being featured in a magazine. If everything is top quality and neat and orderly you should be able to maximize the number of viewers and realize a better profit when the sale happens.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged with Adsense, Climate, Closer Look, Cold Snowy Winter, Creating Curb Appeal with your home, Curb Appeal, Custom Gates, Destin Florida, Front Yard, Google, Home Improvement Tips, Home Shine, Homes For Sale, homes sale, Hooks, Love, Maximum, New Paint, Porch, Selling Your Home, Showcase, Top Quality, Weather

As a home seller you want to initiate that positive feeling from a prospective buyer; choosing a new home is a very emotional thing and it is this emotional vibe that you want to tune into to. It is always the first impression that will dictate the buyer’s mood.

Think of the times that you have been in the audience waiting to hear a speech. When the person walks onto the stage you are expectant and interested in what he has to say. In the first one minute he either has your attention – or you are wondering where he bought his shoes from. If he has wit, a smile and a bright voice you will listen. If he drawls, sounds dull and is talking too quietly your brain leaves the stage.

You will only listen to a boring speaker if you really want to hear what he has to say. Your house is like the speaker. If it appeals in the first minute, the buyer will proceed with interest and enthusiasm. If the first appearance doesn’t draw the buyer in, he will approach the viewing of your home with the thought that he is wasting his time. This is where the price of your house comes in; if there is nothing much going for it, then make sure you take the realtor’s advice about the price.

If you know your house is a no-frills house, then the first impression will be critical to set the mood. A realtor calls this curb appeal, and if yours is not able to look ‘fantastic’, it can at least look promising.

Step out side your house, and walk to the street and scrutinize your own home from the sidewalk. Check for things like scuff marks around the base of the house and broken parts of fence. Sweep the paths and hide the garbage can. Make sure the gardening is done – no dead weeds or yellow patches on the lawn.

Certain additions can make your home look as if it is cared for. For instance, plants in pots around your front door. A statue or an elegant bird bath placed centrally in your lawn can take away the plainness of a yard. If you are worried about theft, most of these are too heavy to be easily moved. Flowers or plants can be grouped around it.

This applies to any season. If you are selling your home in autumn you can always buy some potted chrysanthemums or azaleas, if you are selling in spring use daffodil and crocus etc. Whatever time if the year, there can be either flowers or berry bushes in the yard. The back yard will not count so much in terms of first impressions. So concentrate on the front for the first visual impact to your buyer.

One very easy solution to the visual appeal problem is to have a very soft bed in the front and cover it with wood chips. As each season turns, a different group of pot plants can be ‘dug in’ to the soft soil. Once the daffodils die, those pots get pulled out until next year and the petunias go in, then chrysanthemums, until finally it is the winter pansies and the berries. With a bird bath in the center and about three small ever green shrubs, your front yard will always have appeal.

It is not just that you are appealing to the type of person who likes a nice yard; if the yard is looking good, it will make the buyer think that the rest of the house will be looked after and he will approach the viewing of your house in a positive way. This positive attitude means that the buyer’s frame of mind will be open to the emotional appeal of your home.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged with Additions, Bird Bath, Curb Appeal, Elegant Bird, Emotional Appeal, Emotional Thing, Fence, First Appearance, First Impression, Garbage, home sale, home selling, Home Staging, Minnesota Real Estate, Plainness, Pots, Promising Step, Prospective Buyer, Realtor, Saint Paul Real Estate, Selling Your Home, Sidewalk, Vibe, Weeds, Wit, Yellow Patches

As far as home improvements go, landscaping is a solid investment – in fact, a well designed outdoor project can offer a better return than most of those inside the house. Good landscaping can add between seven and 15 per cent value to your home and has a recovery value of 100 to 200 percent, so shell out now and get it back when you sell.

Many realtors will tell you that a well designed landscape will help you sell your house faster. With today’s explosion of subdivisions, where many of the homes look similar from the outside, landscaping can set your home apart from a neighborhood of clones.

But the key to a profitable landscape is the design, so start with a plan. A poorly designed layout could end up costing you more time and money: without proper planning, that lovely deck you’ve laid may crack in next winter’s frost. So before you go running into the yard with your pick and shovel, get out your paper and pencil.

First consider what you want to use the area for. If you want to have an outdoor kitchen area or pool then your design will look quite different from someone looking for a vegetable garden or a private refuge. There are plenty of garden magazines on the market; study them to get a good idea of what you like and don’t like. Even if you aren’t planning on doing the whole yard now, plan what you’d like to see eventually. Otherwise you may find yourself ripping up this year’s hard work because it interferes with next year’s project.

Plan for your level of maintenance. Think about whether you want a garden that requires a lot of work or something a little easier to deal with. After you put all this work into the design you don’t want to watch it go to waste. If you don’t have time to maintain it yourself you might want to hire someone to take care of it for you, but look into those costs before you start planting.

Which brings us to the ever popular topic of budgets – it’s important to start out with an idea of how much you have to spend, because it’s easy to get carried away out there and there’s no shortage of lovely plants, features and furniture to sink your hard-earned cash into. Be realistic: you might not be able to put in both the pool and the outdoor kitchen this year, but you’ve got your plan. You know it’s coming.

The next step is to sketch out your yard. Divide it into sections and map out what you would like where. Call your utility company and map areas with underground wires and pipes. Identify areas that have special needs (drainage issues, acidic soil, shade and full sun). Next, add the feature that need to “hardscaped”, like patios, fences, fountains, pools and walkways. Depending on the complexity of your design you may want to consider involving a professional, at least to look at your design. If you are undertaking any structural projects it might be wise to have the plans vetted by an engineer. In any case, consult local building codes and do your research. You want to ensure that your hardscaping is appropriate for your particular location and climate concerns.

When deciding on plants, refer back to your sketch to match your greenery with its preferred light and soil conditions. Use marking paint or chalk to mark out planned features and bedding areas in your yard. This will give you a basic idea of whether your design works spatially. You may need to play with the width of the beds or paths to make the plan more visually appealing.

Before you plant, lay your plants out in their place and take a good look. Does the layout look crowded? Try to visualize the final size of the plant. Make sure you leave them enough room, even if your garden feels a little sparse to begin with. It’s better to have a little room between them now rather than ending up with some plants being overpowered by others when they are full-grown.

And now you’re ready to go! It may seem like a lot of work to get started, but a well planned design will ensure that you maximize your investment and create a beautiful space that you (or the next owners) will enjoy for years to come.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged with Budgets, Clones, Crack, Curb Appeal, Explosion, Garden Magazines, Home Improvements, Home Repair, Investing, Kitchen Area, Landscape Design, Landscaping, Neighborhood, Outdoor Kitchen, Pencil, Pick And Shovel, Pool, Realtors, Running, Shell, Solid Investment, Time And Money, Vegetable Garden