Everyone knows the economy is in bad shape and more and more people are looking to find business that is booming out of other people’s bad luck. One that springs to mind is the repossession industry. As unemployment figures rise and mortgage defaulters increase, other areas of people’s lives also take a hit.
One North Texas based company is in the business of repossessing cars when loan repayments are not maintained, and their business has increased six times more than the same month last year. Jeff, who has been in the business for 11 years, says that it is a real shame that what he does brings unhappiness to people, but if they cannot keep up their payments, then they cannot keep the vehicle. He cruises a neighbourhood looking for an old BMW, he finds it and within 19 seconds it is on the back of his truck. He has been shot and stabbed twice in the course of his work – this is the state of the economy at present.
Usually it is possible to cope with the loss of your car, you can try to get to work in a car-share with a colleague, or take the bus – but losing your home is a different story altogether. Foreclosure filings are up 3 percent this month, in comparison to the same month a year ago. This is being heralded as a triumph – only up 3 percent, perhaps the rate of doom is slowing? But it is still a rise of 3 percent which makes the level a record, so it is clearly still bad news.
More than 13,000 foreclosures for sale have been listed in the first few months of 2009. The next sale in the D-FW area is scheduled for March and there are 4,200 homes expected to be placed at auction on that fateful day. There is some respite, as figures are up 9 percent in Collin County.
One 78 year old Dallas resident failed to meet his mortgage repayments after he had to pay out $3,000 of unexpected dental fees. His mortgage repayments spiked from $389 a month to over $700 and he was about to lose his home.
Mr Forest Brannon’s story was published in the press and luckily for him an interested Mortgage Broker decided to take his case on. He managed to get Mr Brannon a reverse mortgage as part of a federal government initiative so that his home has been saved. Not everyone is this fortunate, and the pace that Texas foreclosures can happen is faster than anywhere else in the county. Foreclosures can be initiated only 20 days after the first default, whereas in most other States it is as much as 45 days; an issue that the Attorney General is currently grappling with.
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