Teacher Finds Niche Removing Junk From Foreclosures
Last summer, Jeffrey Swanson left his teaching job at Marana Middle School and quickly found a new calling: hauling other people’s junk.
He began cleaning up properties after applying for a job with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. By the time the agency called with a job offer, Swanson said it was tough to renounce his fledgling business, Junk Buddies.
Within a couple weeks of starting his one-man company in June, the phone started ringing off the hook.
He now has a full-time employee and a part-time employee who help him out. When the job merits it, he calls on a few other people. Launched in the midst of a housing meltdown, Junk Buddies soon focused on vacant, foreclosed properties.
“Now, most of our work is for the banks,” Swanson said.
Before hauling away any junk, Swanson said, he first snaps pictures of the property and everything on the grounds.
He cleans up the mess and hauls the debris — broken appliances, old tires, batteries, car parts and whatever else people discard — to landfills. Salvageable items are recycled or given to charity.
Even though the bulk of his clients these days are banks, Swanson said he still works with just about any homeowner who needs junk removed.Swanson expects the foreclosure market to dwindle eventually. But he’s not worried. There will always be junk.
Photo by Arizona Daily Star.
Jaclyn on February 19th, 2009 11:54 am
That is good for him that he found a niche to work out of. and he is correct on the fact that the housing market will turn around eventually, but…everyone is always going to have some junk that they need to have taken away, people will always be moving at some point where they need some thing’s removed from their new home or old home that they don’t plan to take with them…this is probably one of the better businesses to be in for yourself.
jaeda on February 19th, 2009 2:49 pm
…. yeah, people moving to a new home might have the plan to do such they so called ” fung shiu “… in order for them to live a new environment and new life to struggle…
Home Based Business on February 22nd, 2009 9:13 pm
Sounds like he is on his way. Getting an idea and starting up is the easy part, continuing until the business is succesful is a bit more difficult. Following through seems to be the key ingredient, sound like he’s got that figured out.
Leave a Reply