OK, this one is by popular demand. In another thread I mentioned that at a new REO I always find a barbeque grill left behind.

What do they always leave behind at your properties?

a broken door(s) off its hinges?

Money

Trash

Dish Network

I think every REO I've ever had that still had a stove in it, has had a pot on the stove with some type of food in it. It's always something stinky, too - like tuna.

PS2. I have seen them at 50% of the interiors I do.

Pennies. Old shoes/boots. Coat hangers. Lately, a spate of DVDs or CDs with no jewel case/container. Lovely stained mattresses. Mail/bills/newspapers scattered everywhere. Phone books. Pizza boxes. Plastic cups from convenience stores.

- DirecTV or Dish Network dishes/remotes (no receivers).

- Clothing/shoes (always smelly too!)

- Light fixtures with no bulbs (I think some of these folks only own one light bulb and take it with them when they leave!)

Fleas. Beds w/no frames. Crack pipes. Porn.

I'm going to 2nd KT's list for the fleas and porn and add cigarette butts, empty cans (beer or pop) and my new favorite thing to find - litter boxes (this is a new thing for me, but I've found them at my last 2).

Empty beer cans! Forgot that one. Thanks OHAgent. One house I was in had beer-pyramids of Coors Light in every room, ceiling high.

I've actually found a few things potentially useful, and tempting. Hair clippers (for my dog), crockpot, mitre box. But it skeeves me to even think about touching most of what I find...food, dishes, clothes, coins, cigarette butts, unopened mail, yep, litter boxes too. Even the skeletal remains of a dog (at least, I think it was a dog...not much left but the hair and poop on the floor).

Worst I've seen in an actively-marketed REO...the toilet bowl with about 10 dead mice in it.

Reminds me of the active REO I found with an unflushed toilet that had been used - heavily with no water to flush it! Stench in the entire house was unbearable

old computers

How about unusual items? Did an interior bpo where it looked like someone had exploded a bean bag chair. Bits of styrofoam all over the place...like indoor snow.

Little Tykes toys, scattered all over the yard......

agreed with the matresses and also unusually an inordinate amount of porn

Not an REO, and not that common, but.....I did an order on a certain former quarterback of a certain NCAA Nat'l Championship team's home. It was an exterior, but he told me it would be unlocked (in the boonies) so to go ahead and go inside and check it out if I wanted. I figured while I was there, what the hay - big mistake.

So just off the master bedroom, there was a small office with a storage closet in the eaves - about 8x8 - filled with porn and adult toys. And when I say filled, I mean stuffed. It looked like he was about to open a store, there was so much!

That was creepy enough, then I head out and catch a glimpse of what had to be about 2 lbs of pot just sitting on a plate on the dresser.

Ahhhh, good thing that full scholarship to a Div I school really propelled this guy to an adulthood filled with such contribution to society....

mike vick?

BBQ grills every time.

Lawnmowers at about 75% of houses (a riding mower at a listing I got yesterday!)

Boxes of nails, paint, paint rollers.

And for unusual, I did an occupancy check on a listing today that is finally vavant. I had it rekeyed and there were 33 (we counted) red biohazard sharp containers completely full of needles. And a huge box of "sample" packs of Zoloft, that expired in 2004. There had to be 40 boxes. Then we came accross paxil and a few others. We're guessing the previous occupants were diabetic and pharm reps.

Last year I had one with a dead dog in an upstairs bedroom and 2 skinned deer carcasses hanging in the garage.
Evidently, the guy died somewhere away from home and had no family to check the house. SInce the house was attached, I couldn't figure out why a negihbor didn't know about the dog left inside.
The property preservation guy wore a hazmat type suit for this one.

“That” one shoe

Porn, especially at evictions in low income areas. Sex is cheap entertainment (at least for most of us)

The Ab cruncher or some other similarly lame piece of exercise equipment.

Tweeker houses are fun and easy to inventory. Disassembled TV; disassembled stereo; disassembled moped; disassembled DVD player; disassembled printer etc etc, lol

bicycles...with one wheel missing or flat tires. An unusal item I found recently was a wood baby crib which was in pretty nice condition.

Brooms & Mops which they never use.

Furballs that you cannot identify.

Old old crusted clothes, old blankets, clutter.

Piles of mail (including mortgage bills).

Remnants of rehabs gone bad.

Pennies, lots of pennies. An occasional dime and a good day a quarter (i'm still talking change here). A couple weeks ago I found a gold dollar, boy I was excited. It does not take much to put a smile on my face.

Family photos, books, toys, birth, marriage and certificates. I have found starving pets, fish frozen in the aquarium and thousand of mice living happy off of dozens of boxes of sugar coated cereal which was left behind.

Chairs (usually the plastic type). Bar or breakfast bar stools or chairs.

Old phone books, especially those delivered to the door by the yellow pages company. Old HOA magazines (at the door).

Water hoses. Old flip flops or sandals.

Shampoo and other bathing supplies (I take those home... yeah right!).

Condoms and rubber gloves.

Speaking of rubber gloves, I just bought a box of 100 from Walgrees the other day. I can't believe I've gone into some of the places I've gone without them.

porn porn and more porn to go with the rotten food, a little something in the toilet almost always, strangest thing was a prosthetic leg, the guy must have hopped away

Let's see... Carelton Sheets, "No Money Down Program" info. There was one period a few years back when it seemed like every other interior bpo I was assigned had the program left in it. It was almost like these folks were trying to prove a point. Recently I have noticed several homes with funeral pictures left in them. I kid you not, pictures of corpses lying in caskets. I don't understand some people. Why would they do that?
On a lighter note, I had a field services inspection recently in which there was a complete workout bench inlcuding iron weight plates in nearly new condition. I left a note for the preservationists to call me before they trashed it, and I will take it off of their hands. I doubt that I get a call, because, that equipment was in perfect condition.

mike vick didnt win a championship. so hes out. how long ago we talking for the championship?

I did an interior 2nd opinion last week on one where I found all the paperwork for the former owner's business - a collection agency.

I thought it a bit ironic...

On one of mine I found death certificate in the bedroom closet.

How about a half-full pool with hundreds of live wolf spiders in the water?

My buyer was interested (it wasn't my listing) but it turned out to all be in a flood plain. So I never figured out how the best way is to get rid of the spiders....

In yesterdays REO --- KISS dolls,OZZY OSbourne and family Dolls and a collection of all their records.

Some places stock pools with little fish that eat bugs as a mosquito contol measure. Maybe in your area they use spiders?

shampoo...i love it cause i never have to buy any

Found a set of Carlton Sheets videos once.

-BC-

The beer bottles I find are usually full, but not with beer, unless you consider it recycled beer.

I forgot about that one, I haven't seen it in a while.

For a while all of mine had Andrew Lussman's "Own Real Estate Free and Clear" tapes.

Smoke detectors with dead batteries. REOs are always beeping!!!

I collect Kiss stuff. What do you want for them??

JGizzi's post about bicycles reminded me of another one a few years ago in Florida.
Detached garage was full of bicycle parts in boxes, mostly frames, but a few handlebars and wheels.
Had the PP company clean it out. About a week later, get a call from a neighbor about a broken window on the garage. Someone broke out the window and threw 2 more bicycles into the garage, frames with one wheel. Called the cops to make a report and got the world's dumbest cop. I wanted to report the vandalism. He was more concerned about the bikes, like I stole them and broke out the window. I had to prove I had a key to the garage.
Wasted two hours on it.

old trophies (like bowling) I have seen piles of moldy animal skins. I found a closet full of fireworks. One of the strangest was about 25 bags of toe nail clippings. lots of toys and clothes and porn.

Weirdest thing I've ever found - a broken jet ski in the living room. Darned if I know how they got that in there. The thing I seem to see in every REO - pizza place magnets on the fridge.

I have found lead crystal at almost every one. Also the same Igloo cooler! I have gotten iron lawn furniture, wicker furniture, case of French wine, quilts, pots and pans(in the boxes). Sets of china, DVD surround system, lots of floor cleaners and vacs, lawn mowers, hammock, Old 70' rock albums (300) and lots more. I think everyone here just walks off! Internet relations involed in a lot of them!

*throws up*

That is one of the grossest things I have ever heard of!

Someone told me that the sving the nail clippings was a religious thing but I do not know what religion.

I don't know what religion either, but based upon tbtrackstar's comments - I'm gonna guess they pray to the almighty porcelain god?

lol! You guys are too funny!

The weirdest thing I have had to deal with so far is a house I just put on the market. A previous resident was a nun and there was an alter in the upstairs bedroom. In the closet in that same bedroom were her remains (in a vase, of course). I asked the trash out company to take them to a local catholic church so they could take care of them properly.

I found an urn while doing a rehab on one of my properties. How can you move out and forget grandma? I took the urn to the police station where it was ultimately decided by several policeman that the best course of action was to use it as a paperweight. I asked if I could sell it on Ebay and they said "NO!".

I hate to find a refrigerator with food in it and meat in the freezer and no electricity. Better yet, the previous occupant takes the fridge and leaves the food and meat on the counter.

I didn't see it, but my trashout guy said the garage had trash bags full of rotten meat from the freezer in it. I guess they were opening the bags to see if anything good was in 'em.

I had one last summer where they apparently sold the fridge and freezer at a garage sale; the Omaha Steaks and other food neatly stacked on shelving in the basement.

I have had one too where they just unloaded everything from the fridge and freezer and placed it on the floor,then of course they took the fridge.I wish I could get one house that had appliances!

Hmm.. most of mine have appliances.. stocked with rotten eggs, meat and milk.. delicious!

Appliances??? Hey, I'm excited when there is a furnace and water heater!!

Most of the ones I go into for BPOs don't have appliances and the food is all over the counters.

Bibles and loose change in almost every one.Two things the former owners could have used.