Copyright (c) 2009 Frank Patrick

A Growing Problem for Cities: Overgrown Lawns of REO Homes

Agents and brokers for REO (Real Estate Owned) homes - unoccupied homes where the owners have been evicted due to mortgage default - are finding that if they don't employ professional mortgage field service companies to deal with the outside as well as the inside of a property, the city may be sending them a pretty steep bill for lawn care. Hint: it's going to cost a lot more than hiring a teenager for $5 an hour to mow the lawn!

As a matter of fact, in some Illinois towns, it's costing up to 25 times that - as one homeowner found to his dismay in Buffalo Grove. No, his home isn't in foreclosure - he just doesn't like to mow his back yard, only the front. One day, however, he arrived home to find that the back yard was cut down to size as well without his knowledge - and a bill from the city soon arrived in his mailbox for $125 for getting the job done.

The historic number of foreclosures all across the country has meant a rising number of homes in ordinary Middle American neighborhoods just aren't being cared for. It takes weeks to process a property in default and in the interim, often no one takes responsibility for tending or performing what's called a "trash-out" of the home.

It's bad enough when the inside of a house is a disaster - but when the exterior clearly becomes an eyesore, property values fall even further and the community becomes alarmed.

Glen Kelman, CEO of RedFin, an online home brokerage website, observed in a recent ABC story, "It's a jungle out there. There's all sorts of land in disrepair and spores from weeds blown over - people get huffy about it." Untended lawns and gardens are also potential fire and health hazards as well as conducive to mosquito infestation.

That's why cities such as Canton, Ohio have actually passed ordinances to deal with the increasing problem. Canton spent $250,000 on mowing lawns in 2008 - so, this past June, they began to fine property holders up to $250 if they didn't take of their overgrown grass.

Banks and lending institutions, according to Canton city councilman Greg Hawk, have begun to be more responsible to caring for homes with the threat of facing these kinds of fines hanging over their heads. By hiring a trained property preservation company early enough in the foreclosure process, they have the opportunity to avoid exorbitant fees and the wrath of the local community. These mortgage field service businesses will do an initial clean out of the foreclosure property, basic repairs as directed and will also handle ongoing maintenance like lawn and pool care. Employing these companies early enough in the process reduces the amount of problems down the line for banks and lenders who want to put these foreclosures back on the market as soon as possible.

Otherwise, you end up with the experience of Tony Grandt, an owner of a lawn mowing service, who says it's not uncommon to arrive at a lot with grass between 2 and 4 feet tall - sometimes even higher!

The boom in property preservation business opportunity has shown that in an economic age where unemployment is breaking the double-digit barrier, this is one sector that is showing nothing but incredible growth.