BPO(Broker's Price Opinion) is like a process under which a broker or a real estate agent assesses a property and the professional opinion of the value of the property is provided to the lender. If your offer is closer to the lender's number then it is beneficial. There are many lenders who know about the benefits that are associated with influencing the BPO but not everyone knows how to do it. BPO can be considered as the most influential factor that a lender takes into account whenever he or she has to decide how much to accept as a short sale offer that is reasonable.

If the offer made by you is nowhere near the BPO then there are chances that it will be rejected. A lot of investors give up at this stage and start assuming that the lender will not accept a short sale. They fail to realize that lenders are ready to accept a short sale, but not a short sale offer made that isn't anywhere close to the BPO amount. They need to know that the difference between a lender not accepting a short sale and a lender not accepting the offer is big. So if you are willing to influence the BPO then there are few steps that you need to follow:

. Make sure that you ask your loss mitigation representative to access the broker's price opinion before the submission of your package. Try and provide the best numbers and then ask the agent who is performing the BPO call to set an appointment. Make sure that you are there for the BPO. It is essential to order for a complete BPO. In case a drive by the BPO is completed, you will not have to get in touch with the agent and this will in turn eliminate the possibilities of influencing the outcome in any manner.

. The next step should be to access the estimate of the cost of repair and other important information that can justify a discount. If possible try to pay a visit to the property before the BPO is done. Prepare one list of repair costs that will include the obvious repair work like paint, carpet or wall damage and the second list should contain every possible repair that may not be visible to the agent for instance, electrical fixtures, faulty plumbing and so on. Do not forget to bring these lists to the BPO appointment and make sure that you are ready to explain any problem in detail.

. In case the property is occupied, the homeowner should not be present at the BPO because there are chances that the agent will start asking questions to the owner about the property which you may not like to be revealed.

When the agent starts the assessment you can also use your camera to take pictures of each room in the house. The agent would be talking a few pictures too and may forget some important details. When you are going throughout the house make sure to point out only few important repairs. Make notes and let them know about other houses in the area.