The end of the story as of now was that I was at this house until about midnight replacing the broken lock and re-keying the remainder of the doors.

As such, the homeowner needs to contact the bank or authorize you to bring a locksmith and re-change the locks.

depending on your state you may need to file for a fictitious name in order to do a DBA.EXAMPLE:if i want to DBA 'lock and roll locksmithing' then i would need to file for a fict name.joshua green dba lock and roll locksmithing.IF my business name is going to be 'josh green's lock and roll locksmithing' then because my name is in the name of the biz, i would not need to file for fict name.NOW, it can get more complicated. i am assuming u are talking about you DBA (sole prop) and not a corp or llc dba. you can also have an llc dba xxxxx. that my friend is for another day :)you will ofcourse want to weigh the risks and benefits of both. basically though to answer your question: you can file for either in FL online in the matter of moments and it will be effective immediately and on the system within 24-48 hours.

It isn't listed for some other reason: still occupied by somebody; needs to be re-keyed; needs some repair for safety (they will likely only repair simple stuff like handrails); getting winterized; needs extermination; etc.

I don't really want to pay a locksmith since there are three doors that this needs to be done to.

Just to voice the landlords side, there are a lot of instances where a tenant locks themselves out and doesn't want to pay a locksmith so they break a window or kick a door in.That being said this is both an interior and exterior part of the apartment.

So basically, you are stuck with re-keying everything in, no matter what you use/ do.

Everything from getting the locks opened (with my preferred locksmiths) to ensuring that the rehab and staging are done on time and pics are ready for the mls.2.

I've thought for some time that this would be a good business to get into. Does anyone agree? Disagree?

I am curious to hear others' opinions on how one would start and grow such a business. Would you contact the REO...

If the lender gets wind that the defaulted borrower has vacated the premises, the lender will see to it that the property gets secured to protect the collateral backing the loan; this is usually permitted by wording in the loan documents.Now, if you think somebody at Wells Fargo actually can identify that there is a set of keys somewhere in their possession, and find them so that you can get in ... well, let's just say I wouldn't be surprised if they re-key the place after the foreclosure.