Clean Foreclosed Homes: Where to Find Clients Who Need Your Services

March 30, 2009 - PRLog -- Since the foreclosure crisis started a few years ago, one of the most often-asked questions by business opportunity seekers has been, “How do you start a business cleaning out repossessed and foreclosed homes?”

But perhaps the first question should be, “Who will I market my foreclosure cleanup services to?” For marketing is the lifeblood of every business, and without a clear idea of who your clients are going to be, it’s going to be really tough to succeed — no matter how hot a business opportunity foreclosure cleaning is.

Following is one group to target that you may not think of right away, but who make fertile ground for which landing foreclosure cleanup jobs.

Junk Haulers: A Great “Partnering” Opportunity for Foreclosure Cleaning Companies

“Why junk haulers? Aren’t they ‘the competition?’”, you may be thinking.

Yes, they may very well be. But junk haulers make good companies to market to for the following reasons:

(i) Not Multi-Service Firms: Many junk and debris haulers are just that — they clear out and haul away junk and debris — and that’s it. While debris removal may be a service your foreclosure cleaning company offers as well, you can partner with a firm like this and outsource this portion of the job to them, while you handle the other portions of the job (eg, interior cleanup, minor repairs, lawn maintenance, etc.).

(ii) Not Fully Insured: Many junk haulers are not insured like a full-service foreclosure cleanup company would be. This makes them ineligible to handle a lot of what needs to be done to foreclosed homes for sale.

You see, most of these jobs are handed out by the REO (real-estate owned) departments of banks and/or realtors who handle foreclosures. The reason it’s important to know this is that they require proper insurance and business licensing before they will subcontract the work these properties need.

Their subcontracting guidelines vary by state, lender and/or municipality, so check with them to know exactly what you need in the way of insurance and business licensing. As a heads up, some of the types of insurance you’ll be asked for are liability, workmen’s comp and/or an official business license.

Many junk haulers may have some or none of these. Because many start out as sole proprietorships and never grow beyond that, they don’t have the full battery of qualifications to be able to take on jobs from banks and realtors as primary subcontractors. But, they make perfect subcontractors for you if you’re a full-service foreclosure cleaning company with the proper credentials in these areas.

So be sure to target junk haulers when you start to market your foreclosure cleanup services. While everyone else is inundating realtors and banks (and you should be also!) with their marketing materials, you can also start building relationships and pulling in jobs from these types of businesses as well.

# # #

To learn everything you need to know to start a foreclosure cleaning business, log on to http://ForeclosureBusinessNews.com for 200 pages of first-hand information from the owner of a leading foreclosure cleanup company in Atlanta, GA.