Foreclosures

Foreclosures like dead, frozen horses, offer a handyman the opportunity to clean up, and I will explain later. First, I would like to talk about the politically correct word for foreclosures. The Banking, Mortgage Company and Real Estate industries no longer use the term "Foreclosed (as in Foreclosed Homes, Foreclosed Properties, Foreclosed Houses, etc) the acronym "REO" is used instead (This stands for "Real Estate Owned!")

RealtyTrac -- which has more than 600,000 pre-foreclosure and foreclosure properties in its database -- reports that Georgia had the nation's highest foreclosure rate with one new foreclosure for every 127 households in the first quarter -- up almost three times from a year earlier. Quarter to quarter, foreclosures were up 96 percent in Colorado and 84 percent in Indiana. But new figures from RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure marketplace that covers some 2,500 counties nationwide, show that in March 2006 the number of homes entering the foreclosure process increased by 323,102 properties. That's 72 percent higher than a year earlier.

Do you see the market for Handymen?

Stay tuned for the next blog...

The Handyman that don’t horse around

When I arrived at the house, I realized that my handyman pick-up truck was no match, for removing a very large, very dead, very frozen horse. As a good Handyman, my wheels were always turning, and I was going to get the job done, I had promised to do. Don’t forget I had until six that night, which was still seven hours away.

I thought I would go get more coffee, and make a plan. As I was driving to get my coffee, I saw a car being towed, and bam, just like that, I knew what to do.

The first thing I did was to contact a local landfill, which said I could drop off a dead frozen horse for $25. Well after a very long explanation on my part, not to mention a large amount of laughter from the guys that heard me on speakerphone at the landfill.

The next thing to do was find a Towing company with a since of humor, and that only took me three tries.

Okay, every thing in place for my plan to work, I had the tow truck driver follow me to the house or should I say horse. He knew what we were picking up, but that did not stop him from saying when we arrived at the house, “holy cow, that is a dead horse”.

I did mention that the extreme cold was a plus, I can’t image what it would have been like if the package we picked up was not frozen solid.

I paid the tow truck driver $40, plus a $10 tip, and the landfill $25, and it was only four o’clock and my “yard waste” was in it’s final resting place.

Big Daddy happily paid me the $300, and referred me to customers all over to do Handyman work, but I asked him to drop the slogan about “the Handyman that don’t horse around”.

Changing Times in the Handyman Industry

Changing times for the Handyman business

Back in the day, as a handyman, I would get the typical call from a homeowner needing the normal things like drywall repair, spackling, changing out light fixtures, siding repair, you know, the normal stuff.

Okay, it was not always normal.

I did receive a call on a very cold morning in January asking if I did “yard waste removal”. Yard waste removal was not something I had a lot of calls for thirty some years ago, but it was a slow January and I still was recovering from Holiday bills, so I said, “sure I do”.

As a Handyman, I was not prepared for what I was to hear next.

Prepare yourself for the next blog...

Introduction - homes, the professional handyman and home repairs

Hi, my name is Al Garrett, and welcome to my blog.This blog is dedicated to the wonderful world of homes, the professional handyman and home repairs.

Here is a quick definition of the three:

home - one's place of residence
professional handyman - a qualified handyman who will arrive at your property ready to immediately start work, complete the home repairs and in a timely manner, and clean up the workplace afterward.
home repairs - See the 50 most common “To Do” list projects a handyman is called to work on.

Over the past 36 years, I have dedicated my life’s work to the building trades. Currently, I conduct training classes and seminars for the professional handyman industry as well as provide technical support nationally for handymen and home inspectors. I have an extensive background in all aspects of commercial and residential construction ranging from historical renovations of Colonial and Civil War-era buildings to new construction projects such as shopping centers, hospitals, and nuclear power plants.

As a residential contractor, I built and repaired homes. I constructed county rehabilitation housing projects and created the Project House Program - where I taught new homeowners how to properly repair and maintain their homes. I served for years as Department Manager of a construction department, where I supervised the construction department. I created guidelines for all potential sub-contractors, and monitored and reviewed the stats of all work in progress and completed.

In the early seventies, I worked with my dad as an apprentice brick mason doing historic renovation on some of the famous historic sites in Richmond and Williamsburg, Virginia. After four years as an apprentice, with the skills I developed working with my dad, I moved on to a company where I became foreman of an historic renovation company. As a young man I left my historic roots to built high rise buildings. I slowly came back to my roots as a residential contractor, doing home repairs, handyman work, renovation, and new construction.

Throughout my life, I have developed a strong desire to teach people how to properly maintain their homes. This blog will contain stories, instructions, pictures and more! Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope that you enjoy the infomation regarding homes, a professional handyman and home repairs that I will provide.