Posted by Tony Colella on April 07, 2006 at 10:34:27:
Typically by the time you have purchase a bank repo, the home has been vacant for many months and the property would have already outlasted storage requirements before being considered abandoned.
I would recommend a quick check with you landlord/tenant act in your state just so you know how it might address such issues.
With that in mind, I would take photos of everything, maybe put them all in one room while I begin the rehab and after 10 days or so put them in a dumpster. You could probably put them in the dumpster today without any concern but I usually find that 10 days goes by quick before the property really becomes an issue.
Please don’t take this as legal advice. But you should be fine trashing it once you have title.
Hold on a minute fellow investors. Do not proceed to dumpster. Quick sort and take all saleable items to your local consignment auction. I bet every community that has MHP’s has them. You may want to go to one of these auctions to familarize yourself with what kind of junk people will buy. Just don’t start nodding yes yourself. After taking out their 35% commission, my last trailer load earned a check for $282.+. I took another load in last week and it’s like xmas when the check comes. The auction house complains when I bring junk in there that they want better stuff to sell but they haven’t turned me away yet.
Posted by JeffB (MI) on April 07, 2006 at 13:18:21:
The only thing of possible value I ever find is appliances… which are usually not so clean, but better than nothing.
It still amazes me that people can leave all their clothes and food behind, yet there is no trace of a television or video game system. As Lonestar said in Spaceballs, “… take only what you NEED to SURVIVE!”
I always trash everything immediately, or donate any clothing for a tax writeoff.
I trash stuff right away and don’t think twice about it. The people who left it behind won’t be back. If they do come back, tell them to go pound sand. They can’t prove what they left behind, anymore than they can prove that you disposed of it. Just say it was empty when you bought it.