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Foreclosed homes all over the Inland Empire are turning into "trash-outs" - wooden and stucco carcasses with piles of appliances, mattresses and other items left behind by former residents.
In the big picture, the Riverside-San Bernardino area ranked No. 3 in the United States on the foreclosure chart for metro areas, according to a recent report by RealtyTrac, a real-estate data company in Irvine. There were more than 20,600 foreclosure filings in the two-county area during the third quarter of this year, it stated.
It's partially Lisa Carvalho's job to get junk hauled out of these abandoned homes.
"There's usually debris and clothing and beds," said Carvalho, co-owner of Casablanca Associates Inc. in Ontario.
The company, among others, has its hands full cleaning out foreclosed homes in the San Bernardino and Ontario areas.
Sometimes her workers stumble across gems - like prized computer parts. But it's been a potpourri of things, such as cars, computer monitors, stoves and washing machines.
"It's bad, but it's a lot of work for the (cleanup) industry," said Mike Meyers of San Bernardino-based Best Price Hauling. "It's a sad situation all around for everyone, except for us in the service industry."
Inland Empire Realtor Bobbie Miller said evictees with lower incomes usually take most everything when they leave.
"They can't afford to buy it again," said Miller, who gets properties cleaned up for banks
that end up holding the bag on loans that go south.
She's recently worked on homes in Fontana, Ontario and Rialto.
Evicted residents are given 18 days to reclaim their property inside a foreclosed home, Miller said.
In her case, everything inside the home gets thrown away or goes to auction, depending on how valuable it is.
"Most of the time, they don't come back to get anything," Miller said. "A lot of our economy is being supported, unfortunately, by people who've lost their homes."
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