REO's and health concerns

[Kali the Boston Terrier]

My trunk of REO fun contains a good spray with a lot of DEET, double respirator mask (no such thing as toxic mold...what a load of ****), boots, change of clothes, mag light, mini maglight, Glock 30SF, .45 hollowpoints, disto, tablet, two cameras...and a cell phone. Always wear pants and preferably a long sleeve shirt or something with a collar that fits around your collar no v neck stuff.

Got fleas three times from houses, bug spray and flea and tick ollars are a good idea. Had cockroaches fall on me...never step on roaches with your shoes...they will come home with you. Attacked by a dog, watched a squatter jump out a second story window...

Eli can I assume you just started doing REOs? Because a full portfolio of REOs for a year will get you up to speed pretty quickly

 

[Eli Weiss]

Brian, I started doing REO's the past year on a regular basis, as a filler in this slow market, I used to do them only occasionally, I can assume that winter the bugs are not as bad, the REO I did last Sunday was on the haziest day of the season, I couldn't have chosen a worse day, the funny part is that I didn't encounter any rodents, it appears that even they felt threatened by the mold and the bugs, next time I'll know if the rodents feel safe to be around then I guess its OK for me to enter....

 

[aussie ken]

I did a REO yesterday, the house was full of mold and mildew, trash and old spoiled food all over, as well as every bug in the book, the house didn't have any ventilation for months, as the windows were boarded up...
I came out of there coughing and spitting, then I noticed my shirt was infested with some tiny bug, as much as I tried to shake them off, they kept on sticking back on me (I was wearing a white shirt) so I kept on hitting my shirt, jumping and running to get the bugs off me, while coughing and spitting at the same time, passerby's must have thought that I am retarded and gave me that weird look, I felt miserable and promised my self never to step in a house with similar conditions.....

What would you guys do in such a case? and would you jeopardize your health for a REO assignment.....

Generally on older vacant houses I always tuck my trousers into my socks ( This is a great fashion statement) and then spray insect repellant around my socks and lower trousers..............seems to work a treat but does get strange looks from neighbours!!!!

 

[Greg Bell]

Its's shame when the previous owner does not let their cat out before they close up the House.I have found cats expired due to lack of food and water.Takes a special kind of person to leave with their pet locked in the home..I am glad they lost thier home..

 

[Don Clark]

Please do NOT go into a moldy property without full protection for your lungs at the least!!!!! Might want to take a couple photos as you can WITHOUT going in to send to the client to show why you will need an additional fee for hazardous duty.

This can be very dangerous to your health!

In the seminar text I wrote, I have an entire section on how to protect yourself, protective clothing, as well as other forms of protection if there might be squatters in the property.

In doing REO properties one never knows what to inspect. I have seen properties where, in a small cape style property, 4 flea bombs were not enough to get rid of the fleas. I have found snakes, other critters living there, as well as some questionable human beings.

I also advise taking many, many photos. Once had a guy claim he had to move out due to constant flooding of the crawl. When I had inspected it, not moisture in the crawl after 4 days of rain. On reinspection to disprove his claim, I found over a foot of water in the crawl. But, i also found the water hoses where he had come back and filled the crawl with fresh water. pictures proved what he had done.

 

[Rossy7883]

I found myself in a home that was saturated with mold. Had to take my under shirt off to shield my face in order to breathe. At any rate, I now carry a mask, googles and latex gloves just in case. Don't want to get caught with my pants down again.

 

[Doug in NC]

Most importantly, be sure to charge properly. Amazingly, some appraisers don't charge any more for REO work than they do for standard lender work (despite extra addenda, many more photos, repair estimating skills, and potential health hazards - including potential for personal injury due to entering what are often high crime areas).

 

[Eli Weiss]

My trunk of REO fun contains a good spray with a lot of DEET, double respirator mask (no such thing as toxic mold...what a load of ****), boots, change of clothes, mag light, mini maglight, Glock 30SF, .45 hollowpoints, disto, tablet, two cameras...and a cell phone. Always wear pants and preferably a long sleeve shirt or something with a collar that fits around your collar no v neck stuff.

I like your little REO kit, other then a parachute in your collection, you are pretty well covered for every situation, oh and the hollow-points are the kicker, those squatters won't take anything else, I know they are very picky when it comes to bullets, they also wanna die in style....good job there. :new_2gunsfiring_v1:

 

[Doug in NC]

Its's shame when the previous owner does not let their cat out before they close up the House.I have found cats expired due to lack of food and water.Takes a special kind of person to leave with their pet locked in the home..I am glad they lost thier home..

Speaking of cats, reminds me of the worst foreclosure I have ever seen - and smelled. Although humans had vacated, a small army of cats remained. They were entering the house through an open heating register in the dining room floor. Feces from one end of that house to the other. Smell was pretty much unbearable.

A property near a hog farm came in with a close second due to horrendous odor. Smell is not so bad on a cool day, but fills the air on a hot humid afternoon.

 

[Mr Rex]

Did a Home Inspection yesterday. The interior door to the cellar and crawl space had a kitty door in it. Kitty had been using the crawl as its litter box. Here is one of 2 large piles of kitty's finest.