Take a moment:
If you are a Realtor (especially in Pennsylvania) who has been performing BPOS (Broker Price Opinions) for lenders, you might want to stop and take a moment to read this.
Perform a BPO and you may be violating the Real Estate Licensing and Registration Act (RELRA) and the Real Estate Appraisers Certification Act, and could be prosecuted by the Real Estate Commission or the State Board of Certified Appraisers or both.
If you are reading this saying, what????? You are not alone. There are many Brokers and Realtors scratching their heads saying the same thing.
The harsh reality
But, the harsh reality is that simply put, the only people who are allowed to perform BPOs are certified appraisers.
Brokers and Realtors can only perform CMAs (Comparative Market Analysis.) And, get this, unless you are either representing the lender or trying to obtain the listing, you can’t even perform the CMA. So for instance, if you have no chance of getting the listing and the lender just wants a BPO, say goodnight Gracie. No BPO or CMA for you or the lender.
However, if the lender states that whoever does the BPO or in your case, the CMA gets the listing, you should get that in writing along with any fees that the Broker charges for the CMA. You must also include the limiting language in your CMA exactly how it is published in RELRA and must be on the first page of the CMA.
Completely oblivious
I find that most lenders do not want a CMA, they want BPOs and are not aware of the various state laws or rules.
For those Brokers/Realtors who are currently performing BPOs or those who have been performing BPOs to get extra income, those days are over and they should be grateful they have not yet been caught thus far.
There’s no patch to help those who need to quit performing BPOs over a period-of-time. You have to quit cold turkey and if I were you, I’d do it today.
If you are not certain of your state’s laws, you should check with local counsel or your Real Estate Commission.
