Cleaning Foreclosed Homes Business Plan

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By Research Analyst

Worksheet for setting up a operating property preservation service
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Worksheet for setting up a operating property preservation service

The Cons of starting a Foreclosure Cleanup Business

If you are thinking of doing this type of business on a full time basis, there are some things that you need to know about before you dive into a new business opportunity working with banks and getting subcontract work from property preservation companies. Is not always as easy or glamorous as sometime presented in the many ads and e-books online.

First it has to do with payment, depending on who you received your work order from it may take a while to get paid for the work you have done, especially if you are low the list of others who get paid before you do.

The only option would be to be able to bankroll your own jobs , other things such as outsourcing out contractors to help with the work load, as well as the slow process of building your income with your own business through out the bad economy.

The other issue is the paperwork, you will have contracts, forms, receipts, and property stat printouts. The other issue is the manual labor involved, its hard work and if you are doing all the work yourself it can get exhausting.

How to Find Cleaning Work with Property Preservation Companies

If you are looking for REO vendors to hire you for trashout cleaning jobs it just may be easier than you think, for starters you will need to contact the asset managers and let them know thaty are available, it is recommended to also check with real estate listing agents to find out if you can work on the bank owned properties that they are unable to sell.

Foreclosure Cleaning Business Subcontracting Work

One way to find subcontracting work for your foreclosure cleanup company is to contact large nationwide property preservation companies, they are going to need help with boarding windows trashouts, minor repairs and yard work.

If your actively seeking out these contracts such as on HUD's website, search online for vendor applications, contact banks with REO departments, check the MLS list of foreclosures in your area this way you can have plenty of work no matter what state or city you live in.

When I first started to look for Foreclosure Cleanup Companies, I found that most of them had listings of Foreclosure Cleanup Jobs to help someone who is just starting a Foreclosure Clean Up Business but before you can really get everything you will need Foreclosure Cleaning Business Bidding Info to help you with the Pricing Guide for Foreclosure Clean Up.

Next it is important to get a Foreclosure Cleanup Business License and to prepare copies of your Foreclosure Cleanup Business Forms to give to the people handling your government sub-contracts. You can purchase some Foreclosure Cleanup Business Training manuals online or you can contact individuals who have first hand experience to help you.

Getting a home ready for market is the top priority for many house cleaning job contracts on the market today. For instance for a new business owner they will want to focus on building a list of distressed homes that need lawn care, painting, winterization, debris removal and then come up with a reasonable bid to get the work completed in a timely manner.

Finding Foreclosure Cleanup company Clients

You will need to make sure that you keep a steady flow of potential clients coming to you so that you will have enough work orders to keep you busy each month, one way of doing this is to look for large companies that provide foreclosure property preservation for several states, apply to become a vendor.

You can offer your specialty area, next you will want to consider what zip codes you are willing to travel to for the big property management companies, next you will want to have your tax id, license, business insurance, and liability coverage to the mortgage field service companies you find online.

Marketing your Foreclosure Cleanup Services

Some effective ways of marketing your trashout, cleanup, janitorial and repair business is to use press releases, article directories, flyers, postcards, free classifieds, forums, video marketing, email marketing and PPC to reach out to the various types of clients from real estate agents to lenders and landlords.

You will want to contact housekeeping and landscaping services who perform scheduled maintenance on unoccupied properties. Send inquires to REO preservation companies who do interior and exterior trash-out, board-ups. lock changes and minor repairs on abandoned foreclosures.

Also check with homeowners who have empty homes they want to put back on the market. They will need janitorial debris removal and lawn care services.

Using a Foreclosure Cleanup Work Order

You will receive workorders requesting that you subcontract out work for trashouts, winterization, locks, repairing windows and so when you receive the work orders by email or fax some of the things to look for is contractors name, info, the address of the property and instructions on what needs to be done, contact the field service coordinator, or vendor procurement manager, ask questions and verify allowable expenditures, you can do this by asking for a pricing guideline or bid sheet, to see if it is agreeable with your foreclosure cleanup prices, also be diserning when attaching photos to a bid, and negotiate price where necessary.

Foreclosure Cleanup Contract

When you win a bid or get hired to do subcontract work from a large nationwide property preservation company you will have a foreclosure cleanup contract with them and they will send you work orders to accept or decline, if you accept they may use you for future jobs.

Pricing Foreclosure Cleanup Jobs

If you want to know the best way to price a cleaning job for banks is to check out the site first, make sure that what you get paid for the job will turn you a profit and also do research and find out how much your competitors are charging for the same type of work.

Cleaning HUD Homes

The department of housing and urban development an is part of the federal housing administration FHA, they provide mortgage insurance to mortgage lenders, if a homeowner has defaulted on the mortgage payments for the loan, lenders than file a claim with the FHA and the house goes into foreclosure. Your foreclosure cleaning will be for these HUD homes that are in the hands of property managers who must sell these homes, the management and marketing contractors who will determine how much your business will get paid once you win a bid on one of these single family properties.

housekeeping window cleaning
housekeeping window cleaning

Liability Insurance Cleaning Business

Licensed and Insured Cleaning business Contracts

In order to get subcontract work from the larger property preservation companies who need help with cleaning all the foreclosures on the market require that you have the credentials such as licensing an insurance.

Realtors, brokers, lenders, and contractors, who will send your paperwork to the bank who then chooses from several submissions. The type of licensing will depend on the type of services your going to offer such as basic cleaning, repairs or trashouts for janitorial cleaning.

The insurance you will need include liability insurance as well as insurance for work trucks and vans, you will need workers compensation if you are hiring employees, do research and make sure you follow the proper guidelines for your city and state.

Equipment you will need for your foreclosure cleanup companies

Starting a new business will require you to rent or buy equipment to use such as carpet cleaning machines, buckets, mops, cleaning supplies, pressure washer, ladder, dumpster, pickup truck, trailer attachment, and lawn equipment. As you need to add things to make your work easier and faster, you will learn shortcuts to renting and outsourcing to getting all the equipment you need for your business.

Working with and Hiring a Cleanup Crew

Learning to assign duties and delegate to your cleaning crew will make things run smoother and help move things along, during a big trashout or clean out. Outsourcing is what many business owners are doing to be able to get more work orders done and meet deadlines. some tips are to give your crew a cleaning checklist, walk thru the property with them for a quality inspection. Give feedback and reward performance for your team for a job well done.

Banks Real Estate Assets for your Foreclosure Cleaning Business

Large companies that handle the real estate assets for banks offer inspections, appraisals, yard maintance, cleanups, to find more of these banks go to the FDIC website, there you will see the real estate owned contractor, build a list to have for later reference when you need more work.

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Comments

Anita 2 years ago

Very good information, just what I need to know.

ralph 22 months ago

alot of very very good information was writing down alot of important details to get me started. thank you

konrel profile image

konrel 21 months ago

Thank you for this info. We have been looking to start a cleaning business but did not know how to start. You just explained every thing we needed to know THANKS :)

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