Bpo

[wonderland]

Hi,
The bank said they were doing a BPO...they said it was a drive by appraisal and that they didn't need to look in the house. Today two people came here while I was at work. My husband was sick in bed so he didn't answer the door but he looked out the window. They rang the bell and waited 5 minutes looked around the house and wrote a bunch of stuff down. Could this have been the appraisers? You would think they would make an appointment with us if they want to see the house. Although I'm not sure I want them to see it. If they see the upgrades they might think they can sell it for more, although the prices in the area are still under what we paid.

Wondering if anyone else has had an appraisal...

[exhausted girlfriend]

Yes, I just had a BPO last Thursday and they did need to come into the house for picks. I wouldnt worry about the upgrades, location really drives the price of your home in this market today. Apparently, you are very close to the end of your mod process. (so I have been told). The underwriter has made a recommendation on my file and it is being audited and awaiting manager approval. This was today, so, that is what you can expect after a week.

[julier883]

So i am assuming BPO is mandatory, correct?

[exhausted girlfriend]

I havent heard everyone have a BPO. I think in some cases when they need to have a more defined home value, they order one.

I just found out our mod was approved today.

[mimirayo]

Mine just sat in a car in the neighbors yard. Spent 5 minutes never got out of the car

[davephx]

Under HAMP it is optional. They can also use an automated appraisal system whcih is like zillow or the Chase value calculator (which Chase may not actually use).

It seems most servicers are using the automated system but seems Chase at least sometimes requires the BPO Brokers Property Opinion ?

[MyHAMP]

So far, nobody rang at our door. I assume the BPO is done at the beginning of the process.

[AZOwner]

Thank you all for posting. We have a larger initiative going on to provide the American Homeowner a voice to get the system in some kind of order.

Please, Please, go to the Huffington article and post a message to the article, link above. We need to bring this fight back to the forefront. If you won't sign the petition, please leave a note at Huffington. Highlight some of your challenges with the issues.

Together we can make a BIG difference, individually we are a drop in the bucket.

Thank you.

Here are links to both.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richar..._b_342665.html

http://www.petition2congress.com/2/2564/petition-to-us-government-from-american-homeowners/

[art4ari]

Originally Posted by exhausted girlfriend

I havent heard everyone have a BPO. I think in some cases when they need to have a more defined home value, they order one.

I just found out our mod was approved today.

How did you find out??? do you know your terms??? what happened???

[exhausted girlfriend]

i called today to get the status of things on my account. while i was on the phone with the rep, new update on my file came in and she told me we were approved and the paperwork was being drawn up today. she didnt have the terms yet. she basically told me to just wait on the paperwork to come within the next 10 days. i will probably call them early next week to see if i can get the terms. i see the terms have been standard, so i am kind of expecting the same kind of waterfall formula.

[wonderland]

No update on anything. Everytime we call they say they are still looking over the paperwork. They don't have the info on the BPO to give me. We just made our 5th trial payment. They did say they would be reviewing our case on December 1st.....I find all of this very fishy. I am trying to stay positive. I looked on Zillow and it has a very wide range as to what our house is worth. We paid $650K with 20% down...so our mortgage is for $520K. I estimate if they were lucky they would be able to sell for $450....however the forclosures in the area have pulled prices lower. I think an REO sale they would lose a lot. I did the NPV mod in a box and it shows that is better to modify. We are all just at their mercy. It is a very sad state of affairs!

[Marie T]

Wonderland...on the BPO (Broker's Price Opinion) I think they usually just do a drive-by because it costs less so interesting they were looking to do an interior BPO too. I want an interior BPO done if I ever get to that point in this process as we have a lot of damage and unfinished areas and I think it would help get the modification.

The BPOs are done by real estate brokers - not appraisers so I don't think they get into your upgrades too much to add value. Even when we had an appraisal done years ago I was told that all of the upgrades we had put in did not add value. At the time I was realy bummed but now of course when we are trying to get a loan mod and it is better to have less value, it is now a good thing!

[MyHAMP]

Originally Posted by Marie T

I want an interior BPO done if I ever get to that point in this process as we have a lot of damage and unfinished areas and I think it would help get the modification.

Marie, I think that part isn't actually that far into the process. They should do that at the beginning because they need that value for the initial NPV..

[Marie T]

MyHamp...I have already been denied once for insufficient income then when I improved my income a little I reapplied and Chase increased my payment by $700 a month over original payment for a three month trial...they did not do a BPO on either of those so I figured they just used their Chase value estimate if they did any kind of valuation at all.

I am now re-applying for the third time so will see what happens on this one.

[caldwellb02]

Marie - insufficient income is a BOGUS Reason! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sick of it. Sick of what Chase is doing. Sick of it.

Have you sent in your complaints to everyone?????

[wonderland]

I signed all of the petitions. Hopefully someone will listen, but I have my doubts. I think they probably are doing BPO because in CA the prices are so out of whack. I don't want an internal inspection because of the upgrades. They might look at our house and think they can get more than the other for sale in our neighborhood. I think the more they think they can get the better they might think foreclosure would be. There really is no way to know...

[Marie T]

Caldwell...yes, the insufficient income is bogus. I know Chase would come out better if they would just reduce the interest and make the payment at 31% of our gross. If I knew what I knew now, I would not have used up all my savings and used credit cards to make the payments for so long as I did.

The only place I have not complained is the BBB. I think Snapple posted that some were having a little success after complaining to the BBB. I am not as eloquent as you are in your letters but have sent letters to everyone and have also made lots of phone calls. I have an attorney working on my 3rd mod submission now so we will see how that goes. My husband was concerned about my health...one of our many hardships is that I was really sick at the end of last year and first four month sof this year... better now but the stress is not good! So my husband thought we should go the attorney route to get some of the stress off me. I would like to say that has given me some peace but it hasn't. I feel that I am almost to the point where I want to walk away because I am so exhausted from the worry.

Wonderland...what kind of upgrades have you put in? I am just wondering because my experience has been that when you have a regular appraiser do an appraisal, they do not count upgrades as necessarily having more value...i.e. they don't care that you spent $5000 to remodel your bathroom with top of the line Kohler fixtures, tumbled marble and satin nickel hardware. Something that is structural though, like adding on a bathroom or bedroom will add value.

I am not sure how it works with a BPO but think it would be even less detailed as it is a real estate broker...not an appraiser doing it and costs maybe $200 compared to an appraiser's fee of $500 or so on a $600,000 plus house. Can someone who knows more about BPO's than I do weigh in on this?

[pookey]

My BPO was just a drive-by and came in about $200,000 above what would be reasonable to expect. BofA canceled the short sale for "insufficient offer." We're trying to get it reviewed and the bank says it will be making a counter offer, but I'll bet it won't be anywhere close to what it needs to be to sell the house in this market.

I actually used info on this forum and got the address for the office of the president of BofA and sent an e-mail. Got a quick response, but the woman from the "escalation department" said they wouldn't take anything less than the original BPO. Said they would rather have the house!

Then I find out from my real estate agent that a lot of properties are covered by very large insurance policies that the banks took out to cover any potential losses. She says if it goes to foreclosure they'll probably get an insurance settlement that makes them whole, so why would they allow a short sale? She's just guessing, but she says she knows it happens.

And according to my agent they often use an out-of-area broker to do the appraisal so it is "unbiased." But if the appraiser is from LA appraising my neighborhood in San Diego he/she has no idea of the market and is just going by online sites like Zillow which in this market are way out of line in many areas. Their site says my house should sell for another $100,000 to $200,000 than their inflated appraisal!!!!!! And that's their FMV amount, not the high end of their range!

Fight to get a real appraisal by a broker that at least knows the area!

[litehouse01]

When they say insufficent income what exactly do they mean..I am not trying to be dumb here but please explain do they mean because of front end dti or back end dti or what exactly? Thanks in advance for your patience and understanding ...

[davephx]

Originally Posted by pookey

Then I find out from my real estate agent that a lot of properties are covered by very large insurance policies that the banks took out to cover any potential losses.

And according to my agent they often use an out-of-area broker to do the appraisal so it is "unbiased." But if the appraiser is from LA appraising my neighborhood in San Diego he/she has no idea of the market
Fight to get a real appraisal by a broker that at least knows the area!

1) Are the lots of properties you are in built by the same builder/developer. If so that may be why there is an insurance policy that builder/developer paid for in order to get some better financing terms.. and maybe a kickback.

2) The Appraisal situation is very bad - not sure if just an AZ law or national. In AZ at least the mortgage company requiring the appraisal can not select the appraiser. This is to avoid the collusion that was common when the banks worked with the appraisers that would fundge a bit on the high side to get loans approved.

Now you have to order an appraisal via an independent company that assigns appraiser. So they get a part of the fee and the person doing the appraisal gets less.

Articles in Phoenix paper have pointed out that often the assigned appraiser has no clue about local conditions or the area of a large city.

Again not sure if this is just new AZ law or CA etc have similar laws passed . I think its on State levels not national but don't recall for sure.

[MyHAMP]

Originally Posted by litehouse01

When they say insufficent income what exactly do they mean..I am not trying to be dumb here but please explain do they mean because of front end dti or back end dti or what exactly? Thanks in advance for your patience and understanding ...

Under HAMP, there is no minimum income requirement - at least no official threshold. The problem is that a low income in combination with a high principal balance can lead to a negative NPV. That, in some cases, makes a HAMP modification impossible (ie. when a forbearance would reduce the interest bearing principal amount below the current value of the property. That scenario - in combination with a negative NPV, disqualifies you from HAMP).

So there is no amount x stated in the guidelines that you would need as income to qualify - but there is a specific minimum income determined by your circumstances.

[wonderland]

Marie T: The house was highly upgraded when we moved in. Several years ago we also updated the bathrooms. I've been in several units in my complex and ours is by far the nicest. I just wonder if they saw that it was really nice inside they would think they would do better in foreclosure.