My preservation (initial service work orders) side of my business just dried up. I have had several calls for repair and rehab bids along with winterizations and some maintenance. However, those were from my REO’s, the Nationals have stopped calling and not returning calls. Perhaps this might be the calm before the storm, whatcha all think?

I'm kind of having the same problem, It seems here in my part of Florida though that the work really starts going in March. Another thing I'm running into is getting lots of bid jobs then no returns from them.

Bids are hit and miss, banks I believe are using them for negotiation or pricing purposes in many cases. I have recieved authorization to proceed about 30% of the time. In addition, I also believe that banks are going to have to release more funds to repair and improve their existing inventory if they want to compete in the first time buyer market ($8000.00 tax rebate). Most if not all first time buyers cannot get loans on homes that need too many repairs and many of these buyers are wanting/needing move in ready homes. At some point the investment/cash sales are going to dry up. Of course what do I know I just do "trash outs". Let us see what happens in the weeks following the "State of the Union" speech. Hopefully we will see what happens to the so called "Shadow Inventory" the Fed is sitting on.

January has been a little slower than December for us too, we are primarily a repair contractor though. I have noticed that a large portion of the properties scheduled for auction are being cancelled. Not sure why, maybe the loans are being modified or the banks are starting their program to rent properties to the former owners. The auction sales to investors (house flippers) has increased, most of these are renovated and resold which also decreases reo.

It just barely slowed down for us about a week or so ago.

For the time being, though, I'm glad it did. I needed time to audit vendor files and get my 1099s done.

I don't think it will be too long before we see a lot of work, maybe even more than we had before.

Most likely this is the calm before the storm.

Linda

Hammer & Cross,

We too have had the bulk of our REO work dry up since late November. We did have a busy period beginning on the day before Christmas Eve with our work orders having due dates of Dec. 25. That was nice. Needless to say, they were all finished late.

I hope there is more work coming our way, because I am beginning to get a bit discouraged. It was slow at this time the past three years though, so I can only imagine this is a normal down time for the banks.

Don't get discouraged, I do think this is there down period. Mid Feb should pick up for everyone. I had a company to tell me to be patience until March. That's when they are expecting a lot of business.

Everything is supposed to pick up in February as the banks are compiling their bulk orders for various companies... Chase has been releasing small bulk orders a few at a time but have a huge 50k order going to one of the companies within the next two weeks... Also with bids, find out who you are bidding for... Freddie props rarely do more than one entry lock change and winterization. One tip is for exterior bids, make sure you boldly tell them that if it isn't fixed it could cause a city code violation. 9 times out of 10 you will get those approved within 48 hours...

Thanks for the tip on the city code violation.

Thanks Louise, It seems hard at times to get clear information. It is like we are dealing with some sort of secret society...

I believe the correct term is "Cabal"

Things picked up for us this pass week. What about everyone else.