Welcome to Broker Brain! This powerful web based system will help you to manage all of your REO properties and give you instant access to all of your property related information. In order to make the most of your system you will want to customize it to meet your company's needs. The "Getting Started Tips" section below will provide some best practice ideas and concepts for setting up your system from REO brokers who helped to design it. Throughout the information below there will be links to detailed instruction as to how to set up your system as well as to use it in your daily activities. Getting Started Tips Preparation for Entering Properties To prepare Broker Brain to suit your company’s specialized needs, the first step will be to customize your admin tab. It will be necessary for you to read all the documentation regarding the admin tab but below you will find some suggestions regarding the best order to begin the process and some tips regarding items you will not want to forget. You will find links in the information below that will give you detailed information about each section. You can begin customizing your ADMIN TAB by adding information to the different pages in the following order: Maintenance PLEASE NOTE: You can change your pricing plan as many times as necessary. Your bill is prorated according to the number of days you used each selected plan. Site Settings It is important during rollout that you “Globally Disable Auto Tasks” prior to entering properties into the system so that you do not generate unnecessary tasks. If you are using one Market as recommended below, you will need to select the check box next to “No Market Selector On Public Search Page” so that the Market Selector box will be removed from your public web page. This eliminates confusion for agents and buyers when they are using your public web site. Read all SITE SETTINGS instructions and complete this tab prior to going on to the next step. Markets Select a generic name that incorporates all cities you service. NOTE: We suggest you use only one market UNLESS you have branch offices that utilize separate staff to serve each office. If your market area includes several cities nearby one another we still recommend using ONE market in your system to streamline efficiency. Vendors Contact information for each vendor must be entered prior to entering information into the PRESERVATION TAB when you input your properties. Remember to fill out as much information as possible for each Vendor because this information will populate in the PRESERVATION TAB. Utilities Contact information for each Utility Company must be completed prior to entering information into the UTILITY TAB when you input your properties. Remember to fill out as much information as possible for each Utility Company because this information will pop up when you pass your cursor over the company’s name in the UTILITY TAB. Owners Add all of your OWNERS (bank names of ALL banks you work with) first. Once all owner names have been added to the system, go back to each one and add the contact information for the reps. PLEASE NOTE: ResNet and REOTRANS are not owner names but web tracking systems used by many banks. Once you enter owners into the system they CANNOT be deleted but you can change the owner’s name. Groups Prior to customizing your groups, you will need to determine the flow of information and your assignment of responsibilities in handling that information. Once you have done this, then please read the directions regarding group set up. THIS MUST BE DONE PRIOR TO ADDING USERS TO THE SYSTEM. Users Once your groups are finalized, you can enter your users. Please read the directions regarding adding users. Pay close attention to privileges and the section marked IMPORTANT. Auto Tasks The system comes with a group of preset Auto Tasks. Prior to customizing your Auto Tasks, you will need to determine the flow of information and your assignment of responsibilities in handling that information. Once you have done this, please carefully read the directions regarding Auto Task set up, Property Status, Preservation Status, Offer Status, and Contract Status Carefully review the directions for the above referenced statuses. Be sure to pay close attention to the ARCHIVE DIRECTIONS noted in the PROPERTY STATUS section so that you are not charged for inactive properties. Organizing Your Property Files For Broker Brain Rollout We strongly recommend entering all active files at one time during a “rollout weekend” rather than entering them individually as new properties are assigned. This method will help your staff become Broker Brain proficient much faster and more efficiently and will eliminate the reliance on using your company’s old tracking systems. Suggestions: The absolute first step is to assign staff members to enter all properties including the following information only: address including validation, owner, and set property status to INITIAL. This must be done the day before your rollout to ensure properties do not get missed. NOTE: Depending on the format you currently use to store your data, the Broker Brain staff may be able to import your addresses. The cost of import will depend on the programming required to import your data from your current tracking system. Please go to www.brokerbrain.net/support to submit any questions regarding your system. Prior to starting the rollout process, you must decide between two different input methods. You can either assign employees to enter files in stages (moving each file between assigned teams) or assign employees to enter each file cradle to grave with only one employee touching a given file. Method One: Entering Files in Stages -- This method is most effective if your company is structured into teams with specific job assignments. We suggest each team enter the relevant information for their job duties. This will require the owner and office manager to evaluate the different tabs in Broker Brain prior to rollout. During this evaluation, the goal is to develop a data entry system for your company based on your company’s structure. You will assign each team’s duties, during rollout, based on the responsibilities they will have for entering information into Broker Brain on a daily basis. Method Two: Entering Files Cradle to Grave -- This method is most effective for small companies where each employee has a wide range of assigned duties. This method still requires the owner to evaluate the different tabs in Broker Brain prior to rollout so the employees can be given a checklist of all items that must be entered for each file. This checklist will be unique to every company depending on how the company utilizes Broker Brain and decisions made regarding information to be entered during rollout. For example you may choose to only upload the photos you will display on your public web page rather than uploading all photos. Rollout Day Final Audit At the end of your Rollout Day you MUST check the following to ensure all files have been handled correctly: verify all files have been removed from initial status (NOTE: the only properties left in this status should be new properties with unknown occupancy), verify your property file count matches the number of property records in Broker Brain, and verify the number of property records in each Broker Brain status match the number of physical files you have in each status. Public Website URL Your Broker Brain system comes with a public website that allows agents and buyers to search your listed inventory. The URL is http://yourcompanyname.brokerbrain.net/public. This site is available for use as soon as you enter properties into Broker Brain. Be sure to follow the directions in the Property Photos section of this Help site under Properties Tab, so that the properties show on your public website with viewable photos. We suggest you display a link to this page on your current marketing website and publicize this link in your MLS listings. |