DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. -- While many businesses are struggling or failing in this tough economy, there is one business that’s in big demand. They are companies that clean out the trash and other junk from properties that have been foreclosed. Some of the properties are so bad they’re considered a public hazard.

At the Brooklake Condo Complex off Bouldercrest Road in DeKalb County, there are dozens of foreclosed homes with no locked doors. Cleaning them up is a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it.

“Some are worse than others, but it all pretty much looks like this. People leave and they leave all their stuff behind (like) clothes, food,” said Kevin Copeland with Just Trash It.

---

SLIDESHOW: Condo Complex Foreclosure Clean Up

---

Well, not everything. Almost every unit at the Brooklake Complex is stripped clean of lighting fixtures, appliances, fans and even the kitchen sink.

“Anything you see. In these walls, there was piping. They’ll steal the copper and aluminum and what they do is recycle it,” said Copeland.

The people who clean out the foreclosed properties said they never know what they’re going to find. In one unit, they found flowing water after copper thieves apparently broke the water lines.

It seems hard to believe that only a few years ago, the complex used to be a nice place to live. Now all 36 units are foreclosed.

VIDEO: DeKalb County Foreclosure Clean Up Is Dirty Job

A Realtor is trying to sell one for $20,000.

“Banks have been sitting on these for a couple months to a couple years,” said Randy Randazzo with Keller Williams Reality.

And as they sit, they’re an open invitation to drug addicts and squatters.

“You know, (there are) rodents. When we first came in, there was a cat in here,” said Copeland. “We have seen prosthetic legs with the shoes on them.”

The business of foreclosure cleanup has never been better, but sometimes it’s bittersweet. “You hate when anyone has lost their home,” said Copeland. “Our guys have to get in there and work hard and it’s tough.”