‘Joe the Plumber’ finds new career winterizing Minnesota’s foreclosed homes

Joe, Steve, Scott, Mario, Rodney, and Paul the Plumber are not only in recession-immune jobs, they’re making a career out of a collapsing economy. According to KAAL-TV in Rochester, Minnesota, a company called 1st Class Plumbing and Heating is getting most of its calls for service from banks and Realtors needing foreclosed and vacant homes winterized.

As foreclosures spike in Minnesota, Joe the Plumber-types are going into vacant homes to ensure pipes don’t freeze and burst and cause tens of thousands of dollars in damage to a home that’s already a victim of major price plummets. 1st Class Plumbing says it received more than 100 calls last year to winterize foreclosed homes, and the small company expects many more this year.

As KAAL notes, Minnesota has a six-month redemption period, which means a homeowner who is foreclosed on has six months to buy back the property. And while that also means homes can sit vacant before a bank sells the home, the redemption period isn’t the primary culprit causing the increased number of empty homes and neighborhoods. With subrime loans still working themselves out of the system, Alt-A loans beginning to reset, and the loss of equity affecting prime borrowers, foreclosures are expected to rise 39 percent in Minnesota this year, according to a report by Housing Link.

And given the poor craftsmanship inherent in a number of slap-it-up McMansions that are now dusty and unoccupied, Joe the Plumbers should expect to get more jobs winterizing empty homes vulnerable to Minnesota’s tough winters. Poor average-Joe-Six-Pack-Plumber and his burgeoning career.