Real Quest - Anyone using it?

[Jeff Warner]

Does anyone use Real Quest? I'm starting to work an area that I'm not very familiar with and I thought a service like this would help me with COMPS. Keep in mind I'm wholesaling these homes so I don't really want to go out and find a Realtor in that area and try to build a relationship for help with comps, etc. It looks like they're owned by First American Title so the data should be accurate.

Any thoughts? If so, what do you like the most about their service?

Jeff

[Scott Hubbard]

Originally posted by Temi Akojie:

One of my business partners does BPO's for banks and she found that some of the banks use real quest for an unofficial comp but real quest data doesn't match up with comps from a licensed agent. Some of the information's is just totally off. Remember when you pull a comp you're looking at square footage, sales in the last 3-6months, type of home, property location(can't be more than 2 mile radius from the property-why pull comps from a property 30 miles away) etc. The only way to really get that is to sit down with a competent licensed agent. Especially one that does BPO's because they work with banks to price properties.

Hope this helps.

This is simply a blanket statement which cannot be further from the truth. I include, as do many other investors, BPOs when we counter offers to lenders. My agent pulls actual comps and includes pictures and a repair estimate. When I compare the BPO I obtained and paid for with the BPO the lender ordered, there is usually a large discrepancy of more than 20%. The reason, the information used is very subjective and most agents will not take into consideration the most comparable sales, necessary repairs, and other market factors. Why? Because it takes 3 to 4 hours to complete a BPO from start to finish (NAR guidelines). At $50 to $75 per BPO an agent makes less than $25.00 per hour not including expenses. Most agents spend two hours or less on BPOs. I know this because I ask them and they are too incompetent to realize that as a REALTOR therr own association tells them it should take longer.

Hell most agents doing BPOs are doing them because they need the $60.00 to make ends meet, are trying to network with lenders to get closer to asset managers, or are too inept to get business in a contracting market.

Bottomline, if your using a real estate agent for an opinion, make sure you qualify that opinion by getting more than one. Agents can be just as inaccurate as Zillow or RealQuest in my experince. In fact ,it is called a Broker's Price Opinion with opinion being the key term to deflect any responsibility or liability. It should be called Brokers Price Guesstimate!!