The Housing Crisis Is a Boon for Some

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Jason Norton, a 27-year old contractor in the San Francisco Bay area, knows how to handle sophisticated remodeling projects. But these days, instead of installing granite countertops or spalike master bathrooms, he handles the lowest common denominator of contracting work: boarding up windows with plywood, hauling junk to the dump and visiting color-matching scanners at Home Depot and Lowe’s to identify which exterior color will best cover up graffiti.

Norton works for homeowners, but his clients aren’t the usual folks: They’re lenders and banks who have repossessed properties through foreclosure proceedings. With the credit markets in turmoil, home prices falling and foreclosures on the rise, the number of lender-owned homes is soaring.

Banks and lenders are in the business of making loans rather than managing property, so many have little or no staff to oversee the homes’ upkeep. Yet with foreclosures mounting, they have more property than ever before to manage.  That’s why “board-up” guys like Norton have no lack of work.

“The business has picked up quite a bit,” says Norton, who began taking on “board-up” jobs in 2006 and now handles five to 10 jobs a week. “Banks can’t just let the properties sit there.”

I guess in every problem there's always a silver lining for someone...

Comments

[MBirchmeier]

My gut tells me Jason would be successful no matter what he was doing.

Good for him for seeing an opportunity and adapting to take advantage of it.

[fathersez]

I wonder if someone has started swiflet rearing in these abandoned homes. Here in Malaysia it's big business. These birds make their nests from their saliva(I think), and these nests are sold for hefty prices.

There are a number of other factors to be considered, the 1st of which would be whether there are swiflets in your part of the world, in the first place.