Things To Watch Out For In Real Estate
With the recent increase in foreclosed homes, in particular in San Bernardino County, the Inland Empire there are a multitude of vacant homes. One thing I notice is that houses have become vacant along time before the NOD (notice of default) filing or even the Trustee's sale. I recently stopped a guy who I saw putting a lock box on a house and asked him was he a realtor? And he replied no! So I then in turned asked him why was he putting a lock box on a house if he wasn't a realtor and it didn't appear to be his house?
His reply was shocking, scary and interesting. He told me "that in real estate it's like Christmas right now. You can take as big of a house that you want or as small as a house that you want". By the way I didn't tell him who I was or even that I was in the real estate business. Heck I could have been a cop for all he knew.
But, back to the story,...He went on to say "that there are so many vacant homes, that the banks cant keep up. So what he does is put a lock box on a vacant house after he watches the house for some time, by putting a flier on the door and no one removes it, or the ones he said he really likes are the properties that people leave the NOS (notice of trustee's sale) still taped on the front door. He watches them, after he feels as if the owner's aren't coming back he has one of his lock smith friends change the locks, cuts the grass who ever he works with as a group or he has a team. Some one in the group has an open BK (bankruptcy) puts the property in the bankruptcy stops the sale and waits for the bank or who ever the bank assigns the property too, to evict him, Which can take up to 6, 12 or even 14 months depending on how aggressive the agent and the bank are, or he gets the CFK (cash for keys) that the bank offers the occupant and moves on to the next property or sometimes he will even rent the property out and collect rent for the same amount of months to someone who couldn't qualify otherwise to rent a property.
Also, the last thing that he is doing is putting his own DO NOT ENTER sign in the front window on red paper like agents do when we get assets from the bank.
So I'm telling you this entire story for what? Because I want us all to be aware as to what's going on and especially for women agents, when going to do a occupancy check on a property that you have just received from the bank or thinking its actually a listing or even trying to evict an occupant. Just be mindful as to what you're dealing with and try not to ever go alone, unless you absolutely know what the situation is.
Just thought I share this story, to help make sure we all stay abreast as to what's going on and to make sure we all stay safe!!
PEACE!!!!!
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