Foreclosure Trash Outs: What Gets Left Behind

Foreclosures are set to shatter records yet again in America this year

. This unfortunate scenario has, at least, provided a new and lucrative business opportunity to many who desperately needed one: starting a property preservation company and performing foreclosure trash outs.

With the right expert training, people with no experience in the field can have a new property preservation company up and running in weeks. Start-up costs are low and the demand is high; cities and communities are beginning to hire these companies themselves, as overwhelmed banks have been hard-pressed to deal with all of these vacant homes at one time.

The most interesting part of the foreclosure trash out job? Discovering what's been left behind in these abandoned homes.

For example, Linn Krafjack of Beloit, Wisconsin, who started her own successful foreclosure trash out business, Abba Dabba Clean, Inc., in 2007, once found a can of catfish lips in one house. That's just her most unusual find, according to the Beloit Daily News; she usually finds more common household items such as TVs or furniture.

What does she find the most? Cleaning supplies and exercise equipment. She gives away the exercise equipment - and uses the cleaning supplies for her business. Instant recycling.

In some surprising cases, high-ticket items are left behind - cars and even expensive boats are abandoned in garages. Inside, perfectly good computers, monitors and other valuable electronic equipment can often be found.

The question is - who can legitimately claim these items?

It generally depends on the individual laws of the state in which the foreclosure exists. Most often, the banks will try to notify the former owners if the items are above a certain value, sometimes through a posted sign on the property if there is no other way to contact them. If the owner does not show them within 30 days or so, it's pretty much finders-keepers.

Just ask Nyla Nyfeller of Fort Wayne, Indiana. She lives in a house next door to an abandoned home. The former owners simply walked away and left behind a virtual treasure trove of furniture, appliances and other valuable items. When Nyla came home from church one Sunday morning, she noticed two old pick-up trucks parked in front of the empty foreclosure and a couple men taking everything out of the place.

Suspecting it was just plain robbery, she called the police. Their response, according to the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette? Since nobody owned the home anymore, technically it wasn't theft.

by: Frank Patrick

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