Foreclosures and The Bank

[Lodzin]

I see a lot of properties for sale in my area that have been foreclosed on and are being resold by the bank, but are not being kept up at all. Anyone have any insight into how I can pitch myself to the banks for lawn care, and maybe even some easy install. I'm looking towards next spring with this, BTW.

[DodgerFan]

Lawn care business tips

Originally Posted by Lodzin I see a lot of properties for sale in my area that have been foreclosed on and are being resold by the bank, but are not being kept up at all. Anyone have any insight into how I can pitch myself to the banks for lawn care, and maybe even some easy install. I'm looking towards next spring with this, BTW. I've done these for the last yr 1/2 (lawn/snow) & advice would be to keep on going! They have become very difficult to work with & the prices seam to keep droping & they want more & more. Also they are Very hard on your equipment b/c you never know what your going to run over. They are only mowed bi-weekly period. The government ownes the vast majority of them & the banks simply handle the money. Even if you work with asset companies (which you will) well never mind you get the drift. Good luck if you do pursue, hope I didn't ruin your day

[wellbiz]

Originally Posted by Lodzin

I see a lot of properties for sale in my area that have been foreclosed on and are being resold by the bank, but are not being kept up at all. Anyone have any insight into how I can pitch myself to the banks for lawn care, and maybe even some easy install. I'm looking towards next spring with this, BTW.

I have had mixed luck myself. I take care a few properties for a local bank and they are a dream to work with. On the other hand I turned down some work for a bank out west who wanted dozens of pictures taken and lots of other hoops for me to jump through. All depends. The other poster is right about the everyother week cutting. You just need to be picky about the accounts you choose and the clients you work with.

As far as how did I get the accounts. They actually found me via my website. I have first page listing on google and bing for my city along with Pay per click advertising...

[mark123]

I had one out of town foreclosure company that told me what my price will be. lol

I measured the lawns anyway and their price was good on one and way off on another. So I called back and told them my prices and they said "OK, good. Then you'll take them for $xx?" quoting their original price. I told him that he needs me more than I need him so he finally agreed to my price and I sent a bill for a prepayment. He backed out immediately.

Rip-off!

[xpertlawnman]

I agree with everyone else. It is not worth the the effort. Also, don't expect to be paid for a loooooong time. I own a WB brushhog and I do clear out overgrown lots for a couple of real investors whenever they need the service. They are not bankowned homes so I get paid on my terms. I used to do work for a couple of real estate agents, but dropped them as the payment terms were too far out for my liking.

[Steve]

Are there signs you look for to see if it is going to be problematic when talking with whoever is in charge of that property?

What should be looked out for?

[mark123]

Originally Posted by Steve

Are there signs you look for to see if it is going to be problematic when talking with whoever is in charge of that property?

What should be looked out for?

If they've never actually seen the property you'll probably never actually see your money.

I forgot one thing that I should have put in the previous post. They wanted me to take before, during and after photos of the property every time I serviced it. Do they want lawn care or photography??

[Steve]

So basically, if they are not local at a local office where you can go in there and meet with someone, pass on it because it's not worth the time and effort?

[JMADEWELL09]

I deal with a lot of foreclsoures and i mean lots during this summer a guy went into our local ace hardware store and asked if there was any lawn care comanys in the area and they gave him my card he called me and i went and meet him he had a foreclosers i gave him a bid the grass was about 4 foot tall and he wanted it just mowed and grAss clippings left. did the job sent him a invoice and with in a month he paid me well that started the ball rolling and yes we had to take before and after pics. he invited me to do about 10 more houses in las vegas ( the area has the highest foreclosers in the nation and highest unemployment at over 15 %) we did the houses but i let my uncle go in and the pics he took were burry so he gave us a warning about that. but since then we have been real busy even tomorrow i am doing around 10 houses in las vegas. We are also doing the janatory work we clean the inside of the houses. so the pay scale is this if we scope the yard which we go and check out the property and take pics and report LG = limited growth then we make 6 bucks if it needs mowed ( which in vegas mow means weedeat weeds in rocks areas that takes about 10 mins) we get 20 bucks
one weekend me and my wife scoped out 57 houses so we been making good money. my guy called me today and said they have 190 houses to scope out this week and usally about 10% have to be mowed.

i have also have 3 other company that we work with they call us for the foreclosers in the area the last big one we did was on saturday we did one for 200 bucks and they guy paid me that day with his credit card. about 25% of my business now is doing forecloser properites In fact we been so busy with forcloser properties I even went out and bought another trailer for the business. So now we have 2 trucks and 2 trailers so we have basicly 2 crews So when i go to las vegas which is 1 hr drive from my driveway i have another crew here in town that can take care of all our local yards.

[mark123]

Originally Posted by Steve

So basically, if they are not local at a local office where you can go in there and meet with someone, pass on it because it's not worth the time and effort?

That is my take on it.

When the housing market crashed due to the Fannie and Freddie fiasco many, many unscrupulous people got into the foreclosure business. I'm not sure if they got into it to purposely negative gear the property for tax write-offs or they really though someone was going to buy these run-down messes. Either way, in most cases, they lost their behinds and now they're getting code enforcement letters stating they should make the place presentable or the city will do it and charge them a crazy amount.

Basically, they are just looking to shift some of their expenses to you and me and I have no doubt that many of them have no problem screwing you over for a few bucks.

If they make the effort to meet you at the property and they're from the area there is a much better chance that you'll get your money.