A $100 Hour – Cleaning up on REO Properties
Posted on November 3, 2008
Filed Under $100 Hour | Leave a Comment
I was driving around this weekend looking for a house, and I was surprised by the number of bank owned (REO) properties I was seeing. Well, I live in Nevada, and we currently have the highest foreclosure rate in the nation, but what surprised me was that it was an older neighborhood, one where you’d think most of the people had bought before the start of the bubble. Anyway…
Even in good times, a house needs to look good in order to sell, and most of the REO properties I saw looked like crap. Dead lawns, dead trees and shrubs, tall weeds all over the yards. Damaged fences. Dirty carpet, water stains on floors, shoddy looking paint. Lots and lots of junk left behind by the former owners. I’m thinking this could be an income opportunity.
Most of these houses would sell quicker and for a better price if they were just cleaned up a little and had some minimal landscaping done. Most banks probably wouldn’t be interested in spending money on their REO properties, but the Realtor who is handling the listing just might be. After all, if the house doesn’t sell they don’t get their commission. Why not call Realtors listing bank owned properties and offer to clean them up for a fee? You may get turned down a lot, but it’s a numbers game and with the huge number of REO properties, you’re bound to get some cleanup gigs.
Cheers,
Ken
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