As foreclosures continue to spike and the number of vacant homes on the market for sale spirals higher, homeowners are increasingly vulnerable to companies that peddle questionable services or outright scams.
Thomas Scott, vice president of operations for Showhomes, the country’s largest home staging company, says conditions are ripe in the foreclosure and high-end housing market for exploitation, where such a high percentage of vacant homes are lingering on the market for a year, two years or more. He encourages consumers to be on the alert.
“These are really scary times for owners of vacant homes,†Scott says. “Almost daily, we read in the paper about vandalism, theft, parties in vacant homes, expensive repairs and plummeting property values that come from leaving homes vacant and for sale. In some cases we’re seeing fly-by-night companies moving home squatters into vacant properties in the hopes of wrestling possession of the home from the owner. It’s unbelievable.†Read more.