Business Start-Up

Foreclosing on Success

    Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 06/05/2010 - 15:23

     

    Chance Phone Call Leads to a Lucrative Foreclosure Cleanout Business

    What started as a typical small-town eastern Ohio summer workday for JT Stewart of East Liverpool, Ohio — renting dumpsters to businesses and contractors from his small, spare bedroom-sized home office — ended in anything but a typical day. A chance phone call changed his business life forever.

    The call was from a local real estate agent who sold foreclosed homes, asking if he knew anyone who could supply a dumpster and also load it with debris from a foreclosed home she was selling. “I wasn’t even sure where she got my number but, being the consummate salesman, I told her I could do the job,” Stewart said. Using tools that he begged and borrowed, Stewart completed the project and made a $500.00 profit. “After doing a few more similar jobs, I quickly realized I was on to something and a new business was born,” he said.

    Stewart worked the business part-time over the next year, taking on more and more jobs. He worked from home using his own truck and additional rentals when needed.  “I finally decided to work this lucrative foreclosure cleanout business full-time,” he said. Stewart actively promoted his business, and his customer base expanded to multiple brokers, large banks, lenders, and governmental agencies in the real estate business. “Over the next ten years, my company grew from one employee to more than sixteen at times,” he said, “and we performed thousands and thousands of cleanouts and other foreclosure-related maintenance services.” Today, the company services customers in 24 counties in Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

    Stewart’s says his biggest achievement was “inspired by the large number of people asking me how to get into this niche market.” Expanding upon a training manual he had written for new employees, he embarked on a two-year writing project and created a step-by-step manual on starting and running a successful foreclosure property maintenance business. The manual detailed how to clean out foreclosures and turned into a 184-page manual with a forms CD, aptly titled Cleanout Foreclosures: Make Money Cleaning Out and Maintaining Foreclosures. Sales of the manual have remained strong, Stewart says, as foreclosures continue to climb nationwide and the need for trained people in this field increases. The manual is available at www.cleanoutforeclosures.com. HBM

    Previously published in the April 2010 issue of HOME BUSINESS® Magazine, an international publication for the growing and dynamic home-based market. Available on newsstands, in bookstores and chain stores, and via subscriptions ($19.00 for 1 year, six issues). Visit www.homebusinessmag.com
     

    V17-2 Add: 6/10 HP:

     

    © Copyright 2012 Home Business Magazine. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions
    Infoswell Media