Realtors Pushing Out Real Estate Appraisers

More than 10 million Broker Price Opinions (BPOs) will be ordered in 2013.

Many real estate appraisers have left the industry because of cut-rate desk-top appraisals and broker price opinions (BPOs). In many states, a real estate appraisal requires about 40-60 hours of classroom training, testing and about a year (1,800 hours) in the field training under the supervision of an experienced licensed appraiser. Many real estate valuations performed in the past by experienced appraisers are today performed by Realtors with little training in the valuation of residential real estate. I have seen cases where a $25o appraisal has been replaced by a $15 BPO performed by a Realtor.

The National Association of REALTORS (NAR) now offers a BPO certification. Simply take a 6-hour online course and pay a $199 fee. Compare this requirement to a typical real estate appraiser requirement for 40-hours in the classroom and about 1,800 hours in the field under supervision.

Realtor or Appraiser? Who will provide the better valuation of the property? Who will perform for the lowest fee. I'm sure you know the right answer to both of this questions. The banks and their servicers LOVE cheap service ... the quality of the service is of no concern to them. Sometime they will order two $15 BPOs for a property think that two Realtors performing a BPO might have move a better valuation when averaged. I have heard of cases where the servicer told the Realtor the market price to put on the BPO and what comparables to use. There are also some crooks in the BPO industry who will task out a $15 - $35 BPO and then not pay for it.

The highly qualified Realtors are not performing BPOs, they are selling real estate. Find me a RE/MAX Realtor that performs BPOs.

I am a licensed Real Estate Broker with real estate appraiser training.