TRASHOUT

n.

The disposal of the entire contents of an abandoned house. Also: trash-out; trash out.

"They didn't have the money to get a moving van, so they took what they could throw in the car and took off," says a local man, whose business — clearing out abandoned houses — is booming. "We don't even know where they went."

Clearing out a house is called a trashout. But people leave behind much more than trash. They leave computers, printers, flat-screen TVs, new furniture, children's toys — all the stuff that used to be so easy to buy on credit. Charities don't want it, and so it all goes in the dumpster.

—Margaret Wente, " America's house of cards — make that, credit cards: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081003.wcowent04/BNStory/politics/," The Globe and Mail, October 4, 2008

They left family photos scattered across a bed, next to a Bible and a toddler's floppy-eared hat. Their marriage license rests on a dresser. And a diploma from Duluth High is tucked unceremoniously into a closet still stocked with clothes.

Scott Johnson tries not to wonder what went wrong inside this three-bedroom home near Lawrenceville. His job is to landfill everything, from the leather couches to the "What Color Is It?" baby book.

He's the "trash out" man.

That's the common term — banks use the more polite "property preservation" — for clearing out and cleaning up foreclosed homes.

—Brian Feagans, " Debris hints at foreclosures' toll: http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/printedition/2008/08/13/trashout.html," The Atlanta Journal - Constitution, August 13, 2008

His first stop of the day was once a state-of-the-art trash-out, filled with debris dating back to 1919, the year its last resident moved in.

—Robin Chotzinoff, "Yo vermin! Hey trash-outs! Dave Emge is on the warpath.Clean up your act!," Denver Westword, January 19, 1994

brickor mortis

fiscalamity

foreclosure mill

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jingle mail

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mongo

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reluctant landlord

Housing and Architecture