Cleaning Up Foreclosed Homes After the Mortgage Crisis

In Texas, property laws cover some areas. They apply mainly to fixtures and appliances that have been installed in the home, anything that could change the character of the house if removed. But even those guidelines are vague.

"That's kind of a case-by-case, fact basis. I really haven't seen lenders going after people for that," Fealy says. "There's not anything that says, 'An air conditioner is a fixture, but a refrigerator is not.'"

For items such as clothing and furniture, there is less definition in the law. Fealy says if the homeowner wanted to sue to recover damages from items that were thrown away, it would be possible.

"Most of the mortgage companies work with [the homeowners] to get their stuff out, because they don't want to face a lawsuit," Fealy says. "If they've abandoned it, well, they've abandoned it. That's kind of a gray area."

If the home is still occupied past the court-ordered vacate date, the lender must file for a Writ of Possession, and the constable's office will handle the removal of property from the house. According to Captain Harry Cunningham, a constable with Precinct 1, the writ gives the constable, and the junk hauler that's hired, a wide range of authority. If no one is home, officers can break a window to enter the property.

When the junk hauler is working with the constable, only items that are deemed valuable are removed. If the owners do not reclaim the items after 30 days, the junk hauler is allowed to sell whatever he can to recoup expenses for labor and storage fees.

"When we go out there...they're going to determine whether we're talking about junk," says Cunningham. "If it is junk, there's a good possibility that the storage company won't take it because there is no resale value. Leave that up to the landlord who he wants to dispose of it."

Lang set a $300 standard for her firm, meaning that if the combined value of items inside the house could be worth more than $300, Lang will file for her own Writ of Possession before the property is removed.

When pets are found in a foreclosed home (see "Foreclosure Pets"), the animals are considered personal property. Even workers with agencies such as the Humane Society usually require a release form to remove an animal from a house.

"That's real difficult for me," Lang says.

On most jobs, however, the work is done without the constable or a Writ of Possession. Smaller companies and independent junk haulers are under more pressure to get the job done and collect the paycheck.

And Jefferson says that even if he finds something of value, it is probably headed for the dump.

"You run across so much of it, and you just get to the place where you have to throw it away," Jefferson says. "Sometimes I know someone that needs a mattress or a bed, or a television or dinette, and I'll try to locate them if I can. But I can't hold onto it forever. You see some good stuff that goes into the trash."
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Correa never intended to be in the foreclosure business. He's worked as a maintenance man at a cardiovascular clinic for seven years.

He bought a new pickup a couple years ago and decided he needed to make some extra money. He invested in a flatbed trailer and had signs and business cards printed for his new company, V&M ­Services.

His plan was to target office buildings, which he would clean and from which he would take out the trash and, if needed, remove any old furniture. A majority of his work came from hauling off trash from abandoned storage buildings.

When he took out a small advertisement for his trash service, it didn't take long for the banks to call. Since he accepted his first foreclosure job a year and a half ago, Correa has been cleaning about 20 properties a month.

After enough time, he realized there weren't many jobs he couldn't stomach.

Sometimes Correa will hire laborers to clean the property and load his trailer while Correa works his day job. Or he'll take off from the clinic in early afternoon to finish the foreclosure before dark.

Still, there are times when the job can be stressful. Trashing a collection of family photos left in an abandoned house can be hard for Correa.

"I kind of feel bad sometimes," he says. "You start thinking about the people, seeing their things; you almost feel like you know them."

Once, Correa had a job to clean a property near Tidwell Road and Interstate 45. The house was unlocked and seemed fairly clean. He walked into the master bedroom and found a homeless man sleeping on a mattress.

Correa asked the man to leave, and he did so without incident. Correa spent a couple hours pulling the junk out of the house and then drove it to the dump.

In recent months, Correa says his business has been booming, and he's started advertising as a specialist in foreclosure cleaning. Correa was offered a piece of a contract to clean 200 homes in March. He declined, unable to commit to the large amount of work.