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Jul 31, 2009 11:03 pm US/Central
Foreclosed Homes Tell Stories Of Previous Owners
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―
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In one home, it looks like a man long-divorced was sleeping on the floor in the attic.
CBS
Cleaning out foreclosed homes has become big business in this New Economy. Some homes are left in immaculate shape while others are full of trash. The dirtiest ones require a "trash-out" -- a term that's becoming more popular.
Marvin Smith owns Bogar Construction Co. He and his crew have already trashed-out 75 homes this year. On Wednesday morning, they started at a single-family home near Lake Nokomis. The job would ultimately take them two days.
The first thing Smith noticed about the home were the empty bottles of alcohol left behind. Heineken bottles littered every room, including the bathroom. In the basement, at least 200 empty Vodka bottles were stored away in a corner.
"It tells me that quite possibly we had an issue with alcoholism," he said. "Did that lead to the eventual foreclosure, I don't know."
He's gotten good at piecing together people's lives from what they've left behind. The dog hair covering the couch, the dog food still left in the bowl and the dog feces on the ground would suggest, "they let the pets pretty much run wild."
Smith doesn't know when the residents left, except for the Sunday Star Tribune dated July 12 that sat in their living room. He said he was happy to see the power still on so the refrigerator filled with left-over Chinese food was running.
"This is not so bad," he said. "We typically see situations where the food is green and moldy and just smells horrible."
In one room, there is a wall covered with pictures of Angelina Jolie. On the floor are high-tech computer manuals. The room is so covered with trash, no one even knows there's a carpet underneath.
Smith often finds kids' homework or family pictures. In this home, a neighbor said one of the roommates was long-ago divorced. He may have lived on the floor in the attic.
"Where is he at now? Probably in a situation that's not so great for him," Smith said.
He says many of the people who leave everything in their homes have no money to move or store their stuff. Often, they are homeless and leave with whatever they could put on their backs.
He explains their mess by saying, " I just think they're defeated, they're just saying, 'Look, let's just move on to the next chapter of our lives.'"
It took his crew two days to remove 3 tons of trash from the Lake Nokomis home. The house looks like a different place when everything is taken out. The residents didn't do any significant damage, so it will likely be put on the market right away. Smith's job is to get into the best condition it can be so the bank can market it.
Smith believes this house will sell at likely 60 to 70 percent of what it was worth a few years ago. It's not something he can say for all of the ones he cleans.
"When I come back by this house, three, six months from now and it's sold and I see a family out there," he said. "Yeah, that's a good feeling."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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