I wont go into a vacant house alone PERIOD!!!!
What would happen if you fell through the floor or you are attacked by a squatter?
I go into vacant REO's alone all the time. If for any reason I feel suspicious or nervous due to the surroundings, I use my cell to call my hubby and tell him the address of where I am at. I then walk through the entire interior of the property while on the phone with him, and when I know it is safe, I lock myself in. I also carry one of my sons metal T-ball bats with me in the car just in case.
Yesterday when I went into a REO in a pretty rough area of town I noticed the neighbors across the street come home and give me a brief glance. I didn't think anything of it since this is a neighborhood where there are at least 3 for sale signs on 1 street, and properties with "bank owned" fliers taped to the windows. After inspecting the property I was sitting in my mommy mini van when I noticed someone driving up in a car who I think was the homeowner. They drove straight up to the property and stopped, staring at it for at least a minute or more. I know the guy wasn't a real estate agent, and I know he wasn't a prospective buyer since the house has not yet been listed on the MLS. He didn't look like the nicest guy on the block and I realized that it was likely that the neighbors that came home may have called him to let him know that there were people at his house, or what used to be his house.
Since I was parked on the other side of the street, I hung back hoping he wouldn't see me which he didn't. After he drove off, I went to the other side of the block to drive a few of the comps. (All the comps are in a few block radius because of the high rate of foreclosures.) Since one of the comps was on a different side of the street, I drove down the subjects block one more time to be able to get the comp photo without having to get out of the van, and there was that guy again in front of the REO looking it over. I felt glad I had finished the inspection when I did because I was becoming more and more suspicious that this was the previous owner.
We don't have many houses with basements, so falling through the floor is not too much of a concern here as it would be in other parts of the country. Luckily, knock on wood, I haven't run into any squatters yet. The closest I have come to any kind of situation with an individual was yesterday.
After reading about the fleas though, I feel itchy all over.......eeeeewwww! You might have to get one of those flea bombs that you set off in the car to kill them. I would talk to someone at the pet store because the last thing you want to do is carry them into your own home.
