Winterizations. Mainly if you live in a northern state. Living in Wisconsin gives me plenty of chances to see those that have failed.

Here's an example to think about; yesterday I was asked to give a second bid on a frozen property. The first contractor at the home found it frozen and was supposed to winterize it the best possible, like shut off the well pump and pour antifreeze in the drains.

When we walked in the door we immediately heard rushing water. We ran down the steps to the basement and found a few inches of water on the floor. Water was pouring out of about 7 breaks in the copper supply lines.

What happened? The first contractor was careless. He tried to shut off the "well pump" breaker at the panel, but instead he turned and taped off the "water pump" breaker for the sump pump. The electricity was off when he was there, and now the bank had it turned back on. That wouldn't have been so bad, but he didn't notice that the basement had electric baseboard heaters to supplement the furnace. So the well pump was on, the sump pump was off, the electric heaters came on, the plumbing in the basement thawed, and now he's looking at thousands to repair the water damage in a finished basement.

Make sure you know what you are doing.

That is certainly one of the biggest; I would agree. There are a lot of people getting into property preservation here in michigan. Many of them have no knowledge of how to properly do winterizations/boardups/rekeys/etc. Another common issue is gaining access without damaging the door or jamb.

I get to follow behind several of the large nationals and its pretty shocking to see some of the wints that their current vendors are getting away with; (or not doing).

Its only a matter of time before they get caught.