Do You Use “Common Sense”?

You are a property preservation specialist. What do you do?

Your customer sends you to an expensive foreclosure home and tasks you to remove all of the debris. The property does not look abandoned and you find this $95.2 million dollar “Dora Maar au Chat” painting by Pablo Picasso on the wall in the den. You call your national mortgage field services customer and Emily (two weeks on the job) says “the property is reported by the bank to be vacant … clear out all of the stuff and take it to the landfill. Take lots of photos.”

So, what do you do? Do you follow orders … or do you apply some common sense? I hear story after story of big banks, big servicing firms and field contractors who have NO common sense. Where do you fit in? Do you have $150 million E&O insurance coverage to cover a huge mistake? Do you compact the painting with a box cutter and then dump it in the landfill?