How the Biggest Foreclosure Business Opportunity Helped One Man

In 2002, David Lidz hit bottom. He was homeless and either slept in the woods or in his van. He was an alcoholic, who finally hit bottom at his sister's wedding - at which point his family shipped him off to rehab.

Today, Lidz is happy and prosperous - operating his own foreclosure trash out business, Appalachian Field Services, in the Baltimore, Maryland area - according to a recent profile of him in "The Baltimore Sun" newspaper.

His story is not all that unusual, especially these days - because the foreclosure trash out business, also known as property preservation or mortgage field services, is a huge industry and only getting bigger by the moment. In August, the number of bank repossessions hit another monthly record - 95, 364 new properties requiring some kind of property trash-out services and maintenance.

It was the third monthly record in only the last five months. That monthly total was also close to the total number of houses banks took from delinquent mortgage holders in the entire year of 2005.

Experts say numbers of REO homes are soaring higher than ever before because, not only are banks dealing with new foreclosures, but they're also dealing with an incredible backlog of homes they haven't had the manpower or time to process. This shadow inventory is combining with current repossessions to drive REO numbers to new and incredible heights.

"On the front end," said James J. Saccacio, CEO of RealtyTrac, "seriously delinquent loans are rolling into foreclosure at an unusually slow rate, while on the back end, the dammed-up inventory of properties already in foreclosure is moving in a steady stream."

Lidz began his new life in the foreclosure trash out business, and then tried real estate for awhile. When the recession hit, he realized what so many others have - this was an amazing time to be in the property preservation game. He feels a strong connection between his own earlier struggles and what he does for a living now.

"It's a bit hard to articulate," he says, "but if you can imagine what it's like to be reborn, lifted up out of total physical, mental, spiritual wreckage, if you can imagine what that feels like ... and then imagine going into these abandoned homes, homes which have hit bottom.

"Plainly put, I really felt connected to these homes. I felt, just as I had been given a new beginning, if I could make it my work to work with these abandoned homes, I'd be the one who helped these homes find their bottom, and help start them on a path toward recovery. For me, that means not only doing everything I can to stop the deterioration of the real property we've been assigned but also being respectful of the former occupants and the neighborhoods."