CLEVELAND — Cleveland is top in the nation when it comes to foreclosed properties, according to ATTOM, the largest online marketplace for foreclosed properties. One out of every 535 properties in the city is foreclosed.
But what happens after those homes are foreclosed? Chuck Taylor, of TaylorMade Services CLE, can tell you.
“You don’t find a lot of people that are willing to do this,” he said.
Taylor is a jack of all trades.
“I’ve been working in this industry for over 20 years,” he added. “It’s people from all over that are trying to buy properties in Cleveland, and they need somebody like me, a boots-on-the-ground type individual, to be able to show them what’s going on in the property, as well as secure it and protect it as best I can.”
He works for real estate agencies and investors, mostly the ones who buy foreclosed homes.
“Some of the out-of-state, and even out-of-country investors, they are the ones buying up the properties that no one wants. They are the ones putting tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars into neighborhoods that no one is putting money into,” he said.
He does inspections, checks up on properties, cleans them out and is also known as the "squatter-swatter."
“People buy properties that have people living in them and shouldn’t be, and so, I also step in and do that. We also provide eviction assistance and squatter removal as needed,” said Taylor.
The work keeps him busy seven days a week.
News 5 rode along with Taylor to different properties in Garfield Heights. One of those properties had squatters living inside. Taylor is working for the new owner, who said the squatters are not on a lease and have not paid any type of rent in months.
“It’s a lot cheaper than an eviction to have me show up and have a conversation. I find out what the situation is and try to help them get out of it because that’s really what we want to do. We don’t want to kick them out of properties. They have to leave because they’re illegally living there, but we want to help them, not just put them out on the street somewhere,” he said.
The squatters did not come out of the house when we were out with Taylor on Tuesday, but a neighbor, Ward Howard, did, and thanked Taylor for his help.
He said he’s been in the neighborhood since the 1990s.
“I went up to the building department just last week, complaining about that,” said Howard. “Everybody takes care of the property on this street, every now and again we get people who are disruptive.”
Taylor has started to gain traction on social media. His TikTok and YouTube videos get tens of thousands of views each, and he has nearly 1 million likes on TikTok.
“About a year ago, I started documenting what I’m doing because of the dangerousness of the situations. It didn’t take very long before it just took off, getting a lot of views, a lot of exposure in that sense because it was just shocking content. All I’m really trying to do is just show people the reality of some of these neighborhoods and show there are people out there trying to help.”
He hopes that people know what he does is necessary.
“It’s the reality of what’s going on, and it’s the underbelly of the real estate market,” said Taylor. “It’s literally saving neighborhoods from becoming a neighborhood filled with vacant lots, vacant properties, and all that does is bring in the criminal element; it lowers the value of properties, it stresses the heck out of neighbors who actually have to live here.”
Watch live and local news any time:
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
