Interesting arrangement - the house was empty, tenants presumably gone, carpet and walls generally dirty, linoleum and tile mildly stained, rubbish strewn here and there, but not so terribly messy.

This would be an easy trash out and uncomplicated preparation for listing.  A day earlier, Terry had her locksmith go out to the property and re-key all the locks, and secure the garage door.  This was seemingly a fairly routine assumption of an REO post-foreclosure. 

Seemingly...

That is, until we descended on the property to take pictures and assess the value of any remaining goods or materials.

We rarely find utilities still turned on at the property - that's usually something we have to place in our name - but to our surprise the utilities were on...particularly in the garage.

To be sure, someone (???) had arranged the garage as a state of the art bedroom.  Attached to a multi-plug extension cord was a television, radio, CD player, and a lamp (all with remotes).  In another section of the garage was a neatly arranged sleeping bag, pillow, extra blankets, clothes, reading material, and some groceries.

This was all a bit curious because the house was to have been vacated months earlier.  And with the power still on, guess who'll pay for it?  As Terry is fond of saying, "We can handle this..."

And she does.  First, she pays the utility bill - eventually the asset management company will reimburse her for the cost.  The utilities will remain in her name until the house sells, as will the responsibility for paying the bills.  After all, it's Terry's listing and this is part of the REO business -as is making sure the premises are vacated.

So, we summarily dismantled the bedroom, secured the doors and locks, and did a hostile takeover of the garage.  The next guy who gains entrance to the garage will be the guy who hauls away the trash...and bedroom!

No dead rats, no mice, no stinky rooms; just a homesteader living in the garage with "borrowed" utilities to feed his electronic jungle.

This is tough work, but these ladies mean business!  Guaranteed!