But look at the bright side, the value of the dollar has gone up from 7.5 rand to just over 10 rand per dollar in just a couple months so you may be buying at a discount, and they will be hosting the 2010 soccer world cup so they're in the process of trying to clean up everything around the venues before they shut the country down...

I have a video walk through on how to download and clean up the spreadsheets correctly I can send you.

Assuming by "hand-me-downs" you're talking about residential vacuums, then yes, they're likely to keep breaking as they are not designed for construction clean-up.  

You have to talk with the first or the owner if you want to do something.Before the 1st forecloses on the mortgage, you may be able to clean up the house and get a contract on it to sell.

@Frank ProcopioI was reading up on the Land Bank objectives which are to provide low income fam opportunities to own a home and clean-up neighborhood from abandoned homes.

I would look at the components that may need rehab: Roof, furnace, hot water tank, refinish floors, kitchen, baths, landscaping, new carpet, windows, paint, cleanup, dumpsters, etc. etc.If the furnace, roof, and windows are in good shape, your estimate may be ok.

It is my observation that people will bring a property down to the level they are accustomed to.This contractor insisted that if we did some work (leveling kitchen floor, new vinyl, etc) that he could convince her to clean up her act and do a better job cleaning up.

We are seriously considering starting a division to handle REO/foreclosure trashouts and clean ups (getting rid of all the junk homeowners have left in the home), but are a little unsure how to break into the business line.

So those of you that do REOs and forclosure investing...how do you handle trashouts and clean up?

Hopefully the bank was able to clean up any issues when they foreclosed on it.