More Work for Foreclosure Companies

The Walls Street Journal carried an article today about “Mortgage Field Services” companies and how they are starting to get ready for a surge in foreclosure. Basically, a mortgage field service company is a person or company that a bank hires to secure a property after it has been foreclosed on. The service company goes into a foreclosed house and shuts off the utilities, cleans up any messes and changes the locks on the doors to preserve the value of the foreclosed upon property.

Apparently, according to the article, the housing boom of the past few years resulted in few foreclosures so there was not that much work to do if you were a mortgage field servicer. However, it seems that work is picking up.

[Kevin McFalls, the owner of JKM Mortgage Field Services, Baltimore, where Mr. Seabrease works, says he already has noticed an uptick in business in the Washington and Baltimore areas. Mr. McFalls expects a surge in assignments from lenders over the next few years. Rick Taggard, the owner of a field-services company in Porterville, Calif., agrees: "All of us are just waiting, and when it turns around, it's rags to riches again."]


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