This past week I had the opportunity to rekey a couple of filthy foreclosed properties. This brought back a lot of memories.
You see, 417 Rekey started out by changing the locks on foreclosed properties during the end of the 2008 housing crisis. Some homes were nice. Others not so much.
The photo on this post was taken before a rekey of a bank-owned property in north Springfield a few years ago. To say the former owners had cats was an understatement.
(Reader discretion advised if you continue to read....)
On my first trip to this home, the fleas attacked me like nobody's business, the cat smell was crippling, and the living room rug had been turned into a litter box. The sight and smell was so overwhelming, I ran out and began immediately removing a swarm of fleas that had embedded into my socks.
I called the client & said I'd need to return to complete this rekey. They were fine with it. I returned a day or so later with a hazmat suit to change the locks on the home, wiping them down with disinfectant wipes.
After the rekey, I had to return to make some adjustments on the locks. The home had been trashed out and stripped all the way down the studs. Apparently the cat urine had fried the outlets so badly that the entire home needed be rewired. With no sheetrock, new wiring and a KILZ paint job, the home was sold "remodel ready," I guess.
Every time I do a rekey like this- or get reminded of job- I come home, kiss my wife and thank her for how well she cleans house!