Foreclosures Gloom Spell Sunshine For Others in Los Angeles

November 20th, 2008 | Tags: Foreclosed Houses

Life goes on. Despite foreclosures spelling gloom to many it means sunshine to others in Los Angeles. These fortune seekers and entrepreneurs are making the best of a bad job.

John Occhi is a realtor. He is doing brisk business selling foreclosed houses in a city that has gone bust. He surveys a house near Los Angeles and makes quick note of the cracked toilets, cockroaches and broken windows. The foreclosed houses are ugly – to say the least. But business is pretty as the cheap foreclosed houses sell twice as fast as the regular ones. The understanding is clear with the buyer – one buys what one sees.

The foreclosed climate means good business for Dom Rendon who does not have to worry about layoffs in his company that deals with signs in Stockton. Just writing ‘foreclosure’ repeatedly half his shed is filled up with signboards. He never imagined that nearly half his business would reap in profits from that one magic word.

Stockton is one of the worst foreclosure hit cities in America. One out of 31 houses are in foreclosure. This means each patch of burnt lawn in front of vacant foreclosed homes are green pasture to others. Nick Terlouw has a special water-based dye that can bring back shabby lawns to life. He is in great demand to treat the shabby lawns of foreclosed houses. Appearances count and houses with grumpy front yards are hard to sell. It takes five minutes for Nick to spray a modest yard. He earns about $250 for each courtyard. He quips, “Let’s just say I am doing very well. For me green is gold.”

It all points to the adage that what was poison to one is meat to another. A whole set of small industries have started flourishing in Los Angeles thanks to the foreclosure crisis. Lawyers have become specializing in foreclosure cases. Fraudsters are running away with nefarious rescue schemes. Some companies are specializing in boarding up abandoned houses. Others are removing truckloads of rubbish. The big auction companies are doing well as investors are snapping up bargain deals. Shops have sprung up dealing with discarded pipes, fittings and other items left behind. While eateries are shutting down because of lack of customers, cookbooks are selling as more people are turning to their home kitchens to stir up a homely hot meal.