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Buying or Selling a Home/home foreclosure inspector and cleaning

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Expert: - 7/29/2008


Question
I live in Fl, pinellas county. I am interested in starting a cleaning business for the bank home foreclosure and also maybe inspection. Where can I start, can you direct me please.
dena

Answer
Hey, Dena.

It's probably going to be a fight to get started in both those businesses (cleaning and inspecting), but that doesn't mean that it can't be done.

Before you begin, though, determine what your cost of doing business is. Then you can determine what you need to charge in order to be financially successful. Once you've done those two things, shop your competition to determine what they are charging. If you can meet or beat their prices, then you should be able to get up and running fairly quickly. Simply put together a brochure with your prices and send them to the banks and/or the Realtors handling foreclosures. To find them, simply look in the paper and on the Internet. They are pretty easy to find. Search for terms like "foreclosure," "short sale," and "REO" (real estate owned).

Inspecting will be a different tiger, depending on what you mean by inspecting. If you mean a professional home inspection, you'll find that the banks and foreclosure specialists don't want them. They would rather be ignorant of the true condition of the property, willing to let the buyer's home inspector find any problems. You'll normally find that the homes are being sold "as is."

I would also suggest getting a web site up. People seem to be seeing a web site as a sign of a legitimate enterprise, kind of like the Yellow Pages were many years ago.

Hope that helps.

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Russel Ray

Expertise

Through home inspections, I provide an education about real estate. I'm one of those rare home inspectors who has been involved in real estate in many different capacities: as a Realtor (in Texas), as a property investor/flipper, as a teacher, and as a marketing expert (for Realtors and home inspectors). I believe that my experience as a Realtor and property investor provides me with a different viewpoint about home inspections in that I work for my Clients, but when there are other people involved in helping my Clients, then I firmly believe in helping them, too. That includes Realtors (both the seller's and the buyer's), repair professionals (e.g., plumbers, electricians, etc.). If I can get all the players (seller, seller's Realtor, buyer, buyer's Realtor, and repair professionals) playing in the same sandbox together to accomplish goals as a TEAM (Together Everyone Accomplishes More), then I believe I have succeeded in my job as a home inspector. My profession is, in my opinion, much more than simply documenting the condition of a property and then take the money and run. I am also a rare breed in that I don't believe that one inspection fits the needs of all Clients, and I have led the industry in understanding that fact. For example, the goals of a property investor are far different than the goals of someone buying a property to live in. The goals of a seller (a pre-listing inspection) are far different than the goals of a buyer (a pre-purchase inspection). To that end, I offer 14 different types of inspections, e.g., STANDARD, LIST, RENTER, BASIC, MAINTENANCE, SPOT, and more. I believe in giving the benefit of the doubt to all professionals in whatever industry they represent until they prove me wrong.

Experience

Over 42 years in all aspects of real estate--building homes, renovating homes, inspecting homes, Realtor.

Organizations
National Association of Certified Home Inspector, Better Business Bureau of San Diego

Education/Credentials
Graduate of Texas A&M University; College Station, Texas

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