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'Foreclosure foresight' turning the credit crunch into a boom for some
Tue, 18 Nov 2008 4:12p.m.
While the credit crunch and mortgages crisis has been a tragedy for millions of Americans, it is also providing opportunities for those with foreclosure foresight.
Realtor John Occhi does not bother dressing up anymore. What he is selling these days is decidedly dressed down. He now only sells foreclosed homes in a boomtown near Los Angeles gone bust.
He sells twice as much real estate as he used to because despite the garbage and graffiti, cheap houses move fast.
"It's not the Nordstrom mentality, it's the thrift store mentality," he says. "What you see is what you get."
Foreclosures are also big business for those who board up and those creating the sign of the times.
Dom Rendon has avoided layoffs at his sign company in Stockton, California, all because this one word – foreclosure - now makes up half his business, taking up lots of room in his shed.
He says he "never could have imagined it" would be this way.
In Stockton, one out of every 31 homes is now in foreclosure which means even burnt out lawns in front of vacant homes have some folks seeing green."
Nick Terlouw got his bright idea from team emblems painted on NFL football fields.
"I thought, why can't I paint grass for all these foreclosure homes, because I'm in the number one market for foreclosures?"
Homes with shabby yards are hard to sell, so banks hire him and his water-based dye to bring the lawn back to life.
It takes Mr Terlouw about five minutes to spray a small yard. He makes around US$250 per yard.
"How much business is this? Let's just say I am doing very well," he says.
"For me green, is gold."
All because of a little foreclosure foresight.
CBS News
Tue, 18 Nov 2008 4:12p.m.
While the credit crunch and mortgages crisis has been a tragedy for millions of Americans, it is also providing opportunities for those with foreclosure foresight.
Realtor John Occhi does not bother dressing up anymore. What he is selling these days is decidedly dressed down. He now only sells foreclosed homes in a boomtown near Los Angeles gone bust.
He sells twice as much real estate as he used to because despite the garbage and graffiti, cheap houses move fast.
"It's not the Nordstrom mentality, it's the thrift store mentality," he says. "What you see is what you get."
Foreclosures are also big business for those who board up and those creating the sign of the times.
Dom Rendon has avoided layoffs at his sign company in Stockton, California, all because this one word – foreclosure - now makes up half his business, taking up lots of room in his shed.
He says he "never could have imagined it" would be this way.
In Stockton, one out of every 31 homes is now in foreclosure which means even burnt out lawns in front of vacant homes have some folks seeing green."
Nick Terlouw got his bright idea from team emblems painted on NFL football fields.
"I thought, why can't I paint grass for all these foreclosure homes, because I'm in the number one market for foreclosures?"
Homes with shabby yards are hard to sell, so banks hire him and his water-based dye to bring the lawn back to life.
It takes Mr Terlouw about five minutes to spray a small yard. He makes around US$250 per yard.
"How much business is this? Let's just say I am doing very well," he says.
"For me green, is gold."
All because of a little foreclosure foresight.
CBS News
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