Maintenance of Foreclosed Homes Spawns Big Business Opportunities
The American economy is going through one of its most challenging phases. With unemployment at its peak, people do not have the resources to pay their mortgage bills. Subsequently banks are taking over houses. Foreclosures have indeed become common in various pockets of Nevada, California, Michigan et al. What’s worse, many of these foreclosed homes are empty now as owners have fled from them.
Maintaining the foreclosed properties is a difficult proposition and has now become good business for people like Matt Johnson. Of course, it leaves his hands dirty most of the time.
His company — Tri-County Property Preservation – looks after foreclosed homes on behalf of banks. He along with his five employees removes snow, cuts grass and also carries away trash that have been left behind by the erstwhile owners. The company also treats pipelines, defrosts the mesh of pipelines in winter. The onus also lies on the company to keep the vacant spaces clean.
Johnson says the job of cleaning and maintaining vacant places can be quite disgusting. There are some homes in the locality whose carpets have been stripped off, lights in the homes ripped apart, the heating system pulled out of the circuit. Almost everything can be found inside a foreclosed home.
Johnson charges a fee of $35 to $50 to mow lawns, $35 to $50 for removing snow and $400 to $450 for removing garbage in a 10-cubic yard area. There’s a lot of competition and he has had to cut down on prices to remain afloat. His company had maintained nearly 500 foreclosed homes in Clinton, Ingham and Eaton counties last year. He expects the number to climb down to 300. The decline in foreclosures, Johnson says, can be attributed to the 90-day ban on foreclosure filings in March. With the freeze on foreclosures now being lifted, there will be a rise in inventory now, Johnson says.
In Michigan, Florida and Arizona, maintenance of foreclosed properties is big business. The three states have been hit hard by foreclosures. Property Shield proprietor Scott O’Berry says the company often gets notices to maintain 12 foreclosed properties overnight. After all, vacant homes become the favorite hunting ground of thieves, vandals and sometimes even animals.
O’Berry says a foreclosure usually has a bad impact. It pulls down the value of homes in the neighborhood. His company employing 45 people charges $3,500 for the maintenance of the entire property.