3 Main Streams of Property Preservation Income

There are currently 3 different areas you can specialize in, while working within the property preservation world. They are...


You can either complete brief physical inspections of foreclosure properties for your bank client(s). Or you can do what I do and that is specializing on the larger repair jobs by being one of their repair contractors. Or finally, you can work as a maintenance contractor. Descriptions of each field are as follows:

Inspection Services

As an REO inspector or property preservation inspector, you will be responsible for weekly or monthly inspections of the bank’s foreclosure properties to determine such things as occupancy status (Is the property vacant or occupied?) current condition of the property (Are there any new damages to report?), check the progress of current repair orders the bank or field service company has hired another independent contractor for. You do not need any construction background to complete inspections, but it would be helpful. 

Repair Contractor

As a repair contractor, you will be responsible to estimate, and if your bid is approved, to complete or arrange to have completed various repairs at residential properties. These repairs can include but are not limited to roof repairs or replacement, total rehabs, repairs to correct damages such as theft damage, water damage, vandalism damage, disaster damages, etc. Lately, I have been receiving quite a few repairs to repair water and mold damage such as drywall, carpeting. Believe it or not, many banks are renovating their housing stock in the better neighborhoods as they are proactively trying to reduce market times, which is the length of time a house is for sale. As a repair contractor, you will be required to know how to use basic estimating software, be able to give accurate start and finish dates, and have all the necessary the equipment and crew (or "sub-contractors") to complete these repairs as quickly as possible. Construction knowledge is a must to be a successful repair contractor.

Maintenance Contractor

As a maintenance contractor, you will be completing mostly smaller jobs that do NOT require you to have any specialized construction background. Typical property preservation maintenance jobs include boarding up broken windows, winterizing, trashouts (aka clean-outs or simply, removing debris), maid services (typical cleaning services), lawn maintenance (grass cutting and weed eating). You will also have to complete some inspection type tasks such as noting the current condition of the properties that you are working on as well as basic estimating of minor property repairs. Although you do not need any extensive construction background to complete these basic property maintenance jobs, but it would be helpful if you wanted to accept the larger repair jobs along with these maintenance jobs.