I can't help it. Every time I drive by one of those "Jungle Houses" I want to buy it. Ya know the kind I'm talking about. The lawn has turned to weeds that are about two feet high, the windows have never been washed, the thing has never been painted, there's junk everywhere and the gutters are falling off the roof.

My brain goes into "Fix & Flip" mode. (Buy it, Fix it, Sell it, Lay on the Beach for a month in Mexico from the profits). Most of the time just cleaning up the junk and re-painting the sucker will net you 20 grand. But unfortunately, when I look at the gas gauge on my piggybank it almost always says EMPTY, so I just continue to dream on and drive by.

Others are smarter than me however and actually do what I dream of and buy homes in various stages of disrepair in order to fix 'em and live in 'em or sell 'em for a quick buck.

If you're one of those brave real estate "Disaster Commanders" or if you just want to sell your home and need to drastically change the Junk to Equity Equation, I stumbled upon a really fun company to call. They call themselves 1-800-Got-Junk? After reading through their website I came to the conclusion that their motto ought to be: "We make taking out the trash fun!" because some of their marketing and brand-building materials are just hilarious.

There's plenty of phone numbers you can call from the classifieds or Craigslist with names like "Bob's Hellacious Hauling Company" or "Two-Men-And-A-Dump-Truck-R-US", but the 1-800-Got-Junk operation seems to work a bit differently. For me at least, it's not as scary to call a national 800 number, or better yet for us digital heads, a request for junk removal can be booked completely online.

Once you punch in your basic info, the website tells you what their schedule looks like and you can click to choose your pick-up date and time. It's a national company (Canada too) that uses local-level franchise partners to service customers in various geographical territories.

According to Hal Smith, the Tacoma area franchise owner, his company also works directly with real estate agents as an "on-call" service for clients who are preparing their homes for sale. That's a good idea in my opinion because it makes it MUCH easier to sell a home if it's clean and tidy. I love the idea of just tossing stuff into a pile in the garage and having it magically disappear.

In reality the home will sell with or without the junk. The only differences will be how long it takes to sell and how much more a buyer will pay for one that is neatly presented. This is a classic example of a time when (if you're not willing or able to do it yourself) paying someone to do something will result in a significant net gain at sale time. :)

Submitted by Steve Hurley

www.Tacondo.com