Why is it that some real estate agents inflate values when they are doing BPOs? Are they trying to steal the listing?
I have some clients right now who are trying to buy a short sale house. We looked at the sold and listed comps and made a very reasonable offer. The bank countered back with a higher square foot price than any house sold in the neighborhood for an entire year. Why you might ask? And I did. The listing agent told me that the bank ordered a BPO from some random real estate agent and it came in high. How, I asked? Did they not see the same comps as me? To top it off, the listing agent even told me that he gave them a BPO that was more down to earth. But the bank decided to go with the higher value.
It's been on the market as a short sale for 75+ days and will eventually foreclose. What is the point! Why even pretend to attempt to sell it short if it's never going to happen. Even if it did it would have to be a cash deal because it would never appraise. As you can tell, this is extremely frustrating for me. I will find my clients another house, but they really liked this one.
Oh well, thanks for allowing me to vent. The moral of the story: if you do BPOs, please don't inflate the value, it doesn't help anyone. And if you're doing it to steal the listing, SHAME ON YOU!
