[ZTR_Diesel]

Well I have a tough one to chew on. An 18 acre homestead with a new construction, never-finished house (from 2004) and 18 acres of rolling land, most of it weeds now. Looks like only perimeter mowing has been done in last few years. Driveway is unfinished dirt, and rough. In a good area (pretty desireable) and just sort of looks like it was forgotten.

Wondering if it's worth messing with. I would definetly have to rent a tractor & bush hog initially to clean it up. Could be a $800 job intitially. And who actually pays...the bank, or the realtor? If I were to take it, I would have to say It would be $200 minimum each time thereafter, and that's if I don't mow all of it.

What are your thougts?

 

[JCLawn and more]

I was going to say like a 5 hour job, but then I saw the size of mower. If you were to do all 18, dang. so it would about 7 hours. The Bank would pay

 

[bohiaa]

NOPE. stick it to them.

most of the time when we run across jobs like this we price it WAYYYY high, hoping NOT to get it.

If we do, we keep our prices around 175 - 200 Per hour.

Everyone wins on foreclosed prop's.

you need to get yours too

 

[JCLawn and more]

if it works for you. lol!! Shoot, he could have that house payed off in 2 years with that money lol!!

 

[ZTR_Diesel]

So are you saying that asking a flat rate of (roughly) $350-400 each time is reasonable? I guess if the bank pays it's pretty much up to what they will tolerate. I would have a 30-minuite transport and some other clean-up associated.

Thanks for the tips so far...

 

[topsites]

Did they call you, or are you thinking of calling them?

NOPE. stick it to them.

Not entirely disagreeing, but it depends on who initiates the entire transaction.
You'd be a fool initiating the call to ask about doing the lot, then bidding high...
Now the other way around, whichever floats your boat.

 

[BubblegumLC]

I provide varying bids to banks. If they want entire prop scraped then one price. However, most banks will only approve a "typical site size" for maintenance. That said, they may say...only maintain 2 acres surrounding closest to the house and driveways...etc. They may want initial entire scrape then maintain only typical size. Typical size would be something comprable to adjacent properties. If typical site size is 2-5 acres that may only be what they approve. Charge more for initial lawn cut due to high weeds, cleaning, etc.. I always walk the property over to make sure there isn't stuff in them weeds that will damage equip or cause injury. And the initial cut is always the most time consuming. Then, charge weekly or every other week cuts. Banks won't pay top dollar but they pay decent. Some more than others. Also, it may be an asset management company that actually contracts jobs out for the bank so you're already 2nd down stream in the cut. I seriously doubt they will have you maintain the entire 18 acres. I've come across some properties where they are big, nice, and in market above the rest and need full maintenance to market it properly...but if much of it is not usable or just abnormally big for area, or if its the only custom in the area...they won't approve full maintenance. hope this helps.

 

[BubblegumLC]

FYI--I charge/get anywhere from $175 to $250 for lawn cuts on a tract home (6000 sq.ft. lot or less) if they are overgrown knee high grass/weeds. And if they want bush/tree trimming around bedding/walkways etc. I charge extra say...$75 just to clean them up or reshape. That tract home job may take me 3-4 hours by myself and I'm doing lots of them.

 

[ZTR_Diesel]

Thank you - good suggestions.

I am the one intitiating, via the realtor. Contacted this realtor about another prop and she indicated she has 40+ that need work. Most are 1/4 acre or less (like your tract homes) and yes, one could come off well doing several of those.

So I think the idea of doing a complete scrape and then 2-5 acres sounds reasonable - my old Yazoo isn't probably up to a 18 acre run every other week. Guess it's just that initial cut (which is sorely needs) that's going to be the challenge. Needs driveway graded too (dirt with a little gravel) wonder if I could throw that in as well?

 

[BubblegumLC]

Yep, realtors are a great source to break into that segment of biz...and lord knows...theres a lot of it out there. Both residential and commercial. Alot of these homes are owned by fannie mae or freddie mac and they have established prices they will pay depending on lot size (i.e. less than 10,000 sq.ft. and greater than). But I always submit seperate bids for each duty. One for lawn, one for hedging, etc. That said, I would definitely submit a bid for the driveway. If you do it this way they may only elect to approve say...2 out of the 3 bids. But at least they are seperate and you can give them the option to turn each down rather than if you put all in one bid and they flat turn that one bid down. While other threads here claim sky is falling..blah blah blah... Or even others say they don't want their "good name" associated with these properties....the market IS changing and you gotta change with it. Things will get better, don't know when but they will...