If you want to profit from the real estate crisis: start marketing!
For ambitious folks looking for work, this over supply of foreclosed homes can be the ticket to increased income – if they get busy and market their services.
Not all mortgage companies take care of their REO properties, but many do, and some of those homes need repairs as well as regular maintenance. When I was the local broker for Fannie Mae one of the primary tasks I performed was to find the vendors, submit the bids, award the jobs, and make sure that work was done.
Almost all of my Fannie listings got a thorough scrubbing and new paint inside. Most had carpets shampooed, and some had to have new flooring. When winter approached, the pipes had to be drained and we had to arrange to keep enough heat in the house to keep things from becoming damp and mouldy. Some required new lighting fixtures, new plumbing fixtures, and a variety of other repairs.
People losing their homes can sometimes behave in uncharacteristic ways. I’ll never forget walking into one repo and finding the kitchen sink missing – along with the furnace, the water pressure tank, the bathroom vanity, and even all the light switch covers and ceiling fixtures. They’d also thrown rocks down the well. That one kept me busy with repairs for quite a while. (That’s the drawback to being the listing broker.)
Outside there was always more work – lawns had to be kept watered and mowed in summer and walks shoveled in winter. One of the items on their sheet that didn’t apply here, but might apply in your city, was pool maintenance.
So you see, if you provide any of those services, you should be marketing to the brokers in your town who handle repossessions. Call a few agencies and ask around – you should be able to find out who to contact.
Remember, you don’t have to be a professional to bid on some of these jobs. Cleaning and lawn mowing, for instance. You only need to behave in a professional manner.
Be prepared to give a written bid and to stand behind it. Also be prepared to wait 30 days for payment. And be sure that when you meet with the broker to ask to be put on the list, you look and act like a professional.
About the bids – Fannie Mae and some of the others have policies that call for 1, 2, or 3 bids depending upon the cost of the project. So for cleaning you might not have competition, but if you’re painting the interior there could be 2 others bidding against you.
Don’t feel bad about profiting from someone else’s troubles – someone is going to do those jobs, and if you want extra income it might as well be you.
Posted: September 25th, 2008 under making money, marketing, REO, the economy, vendors.