Foreclosure Cleaning: What You Should Know About HUD Pricing Guidelines
Many foreclosure cleaning business owners are getting jobs from realtors who are being paid by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). This is a good thing on two levels:
Info on HUD Pricing Guidelines for Foreclosure Clean Up
(i) that government funds are available to help neighborhoods recover from the foreclosure crisis. In fact, According to the AP article in the Mercury News, Half of housing grants used to buy foreclosures, just over half of $4 billion allocated to the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, the Obama administration’s program to help homeowners facing foreclosure, will go to local governments to help them buy and fix up foreclosed properties; and
(ii) it means more foreclosure for foreclosure clean up companies.
But, as with anything that the government appears to touch, there are some things that foreclosure cleanup company owners should know about HUD pricing guidelines. This will help them price their jobs right and get paid quicker.
Set Property Amounts: HUD gives those who own the property (aka mortgagees) set amounts that they can spend on each job/repair to be done on a property. For example, there will be a set amount allocated for yard maintenance, a set amount to repair a broken window and a set amount to remove existing trash and debris.
In order not to over price or under price your services, it helps to know what this is before you put together your bid on a job. Otherwise you could be losing foreclosure cleaning jobs that you thought were price just right.
Getting Paid More: This may seem to contradict the above advice, but there are instances where you can get paid more for a job – over and above HUD rates. But, it depends on a lot of factors, eg, who is handling the contract for the job, costs associated with the job, what part of the country the job is in, etc.
To get paid over and beyond the rate HUD has set for a job, the mortgagee (person/entity that owns the property) must get approval from a HUD representative.
Licensed and Insured: It helps to be a licensed and insured foreclosure cleaning company in order to get HUD foreclosure cleaning contracts. Why? Because many HUD realtors, banks and lenders will not hire you/your company if you’re not.
It presents too much of a liability for them if you are hurt on the job, for example, and are not insured. Also, because you’re dealing with government money, many of them like a paper trail attached to invoices (eg, the name of the company that did the work, whether or not they have liability insurance, etc.).
The Beauty of Working with a Realtor Who Handles Foreclosed Homes and Has HUD Money
It’s ongoing work. Once a realtor uses you and you do a good job on a foreclosure cleaning job, they’ll hire you again and again.
P.S.: Foreclosure Cleanup LLC will publish a Pricing Guideline ebook on 8/4/09. Send an email to info [at] ForeclosureBusinessNews.com to be notified once it comes out.
P.P.S.: Find Foreclosure Jobs! Did you know that you can find a foreclosure job with a simple click of your mouse? You can using Foreclosure Business News’ new job search portal. It’s just to the right here. You can search by job title, category, keyword, city and/or state. Find your dream job in this exciting real estate niche today!
Copyright © 2009 Yuwanda Black for Foreclosure Business News. May be reprinted on your blog, website, newsletter, newspaper, etc. with the following text, in full (including live links): To learn more about pricing foreclosure cleaning jobs, get the Pricing Guide for Real Estate and Foreclosure Cleaning Businesses at http://ForeclosureBusinessNews.com (Publish Date: 8/4/09). Also get everything you need to know about how to start a foreclosure cleaning business.