We sometimes forget.

[Les]

I do not mean this to be political, so take it with an open mind.

We have had several years of political polarization, negative auto growth and rising prison and education costs. The irony is we have some of the very best educational facilities and pretty good correctional programs. Here in Lansing, General Motors just built a state of the art huge mfg plant, making Lansing the world leader in auto assy. Of course that meant lots of support providers such as plastics, metal fab, electrical components, chips, etc.

Problem seems to be we as a government have and are spending more than we take in taxes, so have been running a negative budget. The devil is in the details. The state is highly political and nearly everyone has never been thru a "boom" economy, yet we have been stable for past 20yrs. When the rest of country has booms or busts, we pretty much stay in the middle.

From my own personal perspective, this overall economy is the worst I have ever seen. I am optimistic because of our huge skill pool, huge educational resources and of course our auto industry.

We are a tough bunch and will weather the storms, it will take a little adjustment and effort from all politicians and our govt.

We have experienced a fall in gross sales for the past four years and careful management has kept the profit abt the same as 2003. Go figger!

There are approx 3500 repo houses in our metro mid Mich market as we speak.

Of course there is much more to the situation, but that is the gist of it!

[Jesse]

Originally posted by Brian G

For my next feat of curmudgeonry, I'll be flying to Alaska to club baby seals on the polar ice. []

Brian G.

Where's My Old Baseball Bat? [:-devil]

Bring a heat gun to melt the polar ice, too.

[Erby]

They had all those things and just left them behind???

The stuff couldn't have been that important to them!

How'd you get into doing repo's Les

Some live beyond their means.

Some try their best and that wall that Kurt mentioned just jumps out in front of them anyway.

I know some of both types.

[hausdok]

Originally posted by Erby

Some try their best and that wall that Kurt mentioned just jumps out in front of them anyway.

Been there, done that....

over,...and over,...and over,...and...

I like to refer to myself as a bouncing ball, I hit the floor hard, flatten out, and then I bounce right back again.

The only problem is.....now I'm starting to resemble the ball!

OT - OF!!!

M.

[Brad Manor]

Success isn't measured by how high you climb, but rather how high you bounce after you hit bottom.

-Brad

[hausdok]

Man dem Canadians B profound! Eh?

OT - OF!!!

M.

[Jim Baird]

Hey Brian,

When you go just watch out for that snow where the huskies go,

no don't you mess with that yellow snow,

and keep away from Eskimo boys named Nanuk!

I have been reminded, and am at times keenly aware, that people's homes are sacred places. As an intruder you have to move with a certain amount of respect, and it doesn't matter how different they are from you.

Kurt, I think, is a former "rehab man" having done a lot of housing rehabilitation work. I did a lot of that in my area, and had to inspect occupied dwellings of very poor people. Sometimes they were clean, sometimes they were not.

Most every occupant, however, had a certain light in their eyes that put them on a level dead even with mine.

[Les]

Erby,

Our repo business is a combination of the different services we have available, long experience in inspection, bank contacts, atty contacts and our reputation for being painfully objective. Repos have a missing element - no active owner. Some lenders are participants in the sale, but most just want to know the condition of house and get rid of it.

We have very few ridgid rules when inspecting. The most important rule is that we are in someone's home. I am adamant about that rule. That is why I am not too critical about the folks that lost their homes.

Regarding why those folks left their possessions; I now know they left in the middle of the night with a U-Haul truck and there wasn't any room. Laugh if you want, but that couldn't have been too much fun. On the flip side, we did a $400,000 one the next day and every mirror, fixture, softner, curtain rod, sump pump, garage door opener, all interior knobs, etc was gone!

And, this is a true story - While inspecting a repo house with the agent, she had her car repo'd. FACT!

[Brian G]

Originally posted by Les

Regarding why those folks left their possessions; I now know they left in the middle of the night with a U-Haul truck and there wasn't any room. Laugh if you want, but that couldn't have been too much fun.

Good grief, I daresay nobody is laughing. That they left in that manner is only further proof of adults who manage their affairs poorly.

Brian G.

Horrible, Awful Person [:-vamp]

[Les]

Brian,

YOU are anything except a horrible awful person! I know you as a caring and giving person. I really am not defending the adults. But, I have to say that many young families do get caught-up in all the bells and whistles. I suspect you, and certainly me, had a youth that was comprised of more than x-boxes and bright shiny trinkets. I would not pay a single mortgage payment for the likes of the family shown in the photos - and I do feel sorry for them. They just do not know anything different.

Brian, we do strongly agree that the adults are less than responsible.

[Brian G]

Originally posted by Les

YOU are anything except a horrible awful person!

My wife begs to differ (sometimes). []

Brian G.

What Does She Know Anyway? [-crzwom]

[ghentjr]

I'm with Kurt on feeling sorry for those folks. I saw pictures of mold and green growth on some of the closets. Were they deadbeats or beaten dead by the conditions of the house? Did they get in over their heads or did the conditions that caused the mold affect their heads? It is time that society took some responsibility for those who do not have all the smarts necessary to think a no income verification mortgage through. The low up front payments do not always register with folks who are not as astute as all you home inspectors. A little compassion is in order. And, give thanks that it was not your house. P.S. The assholes that made the mortgage got their money and ran.

[kurt]

Thanks, John. And Erby. And anyone else that had a shred of compassion for their fellow human in this miserably revealing thread.

I'm not asking for anyone to ante up and pay for the goofballs mortgage; folks gotta carry their own water. But, I thought there might be something more intelligent promoted in the form of societal reflection than the dipsquat jokes some of the brethren chose to make.

Profound arrogance, on parade.

[Brad Manor]

Kurt's right - every one of us has been in a bad place at one time or another. Quite often we don't realise that it was our own doing that put us there until long after the fact. Sometimes you can do everything right and it still ends up wrong.

-Brad

[Les]

ya, Brad, I got married...

[kurt]

Careful Les; this is a discoverable "document".[:-dev3]

[Phillip]

There are things in the lives of people that they do not plan on. A lost of a job, hurt where they cannot work or a lost of a family member that limit the income into the home.

I lost my wife this year, most of the time she made more money than I did. We did not have enough insurance to cover everything and I will have to sale our home next year because I do not make enough to make the payments for the next 20 years.

[Brian G]

Phillip,

I'm very sorry to hear about your loss, and the predicament it left you in. I can't imagine what you've been through. If you don't mind saying, how did it happen? If you'd rather not, I understand.

Brian G.

[Phillip]

My wife sold real estate making over a $120,000.00 a year and I work construction then started doing home inspection part time.

I went full time in 2004 after I started having to turn down inspections because of work.

The house was bought because she wanted it. I like the house but I told here the payment was too much. She said she was going to pay for it and she was.

Her father died and her son was killed (We where both married before and did not have any kids from our marriage. We both had kids from our first marriages. ), and she started drinking again. She had problems with this before we meet and she had stopped.

My wife was the one that took care of the billing and other for us. I should of kept an eye on it.

Her drinking slow down her selling homes, so she started using what money we had saved to pay the bills then her mother died, my wife drinking got worse. Before her mother died we had filed bankruptcy (the type you make payments to). The house was not part of this.

After a year had pasted from when her mother pasted she started back trying to sell and taking classes for different things.

Around last October she had a yellow color to her face and eyes. I tried you get her to go to the doctor which she would not. She stopped doing a lot of things she was doing.

In December she started sleeping about 75% of the time. All of this time I was trying to get her to go to the doctor and trying to talk her daughter in help me to get her to go. It turn out that my wife was self-treating herself for liver problems that she had one time years ago.

In January she got worse, her daughter and I picked her up out of the bed and took her to the hospital. Her liver and kidneys had shut down and there was nothing they did that worked.

She past away a short time later. I know I should of done thinks differently and I fill that I let her die.

I took the small amount of insurance money and paid everything off but the house. There was just not enough money to do that.

I owe 20 more years on the house at $1,800.00 a month. I am 50 year old and I do a little over 200 inspection a year around $300 per.

I really a bad time to have things slow down.

Yes people should watch what they do, and sometime things happen that we do not plan on.

I am having to deal with my choices and go on in life.

[Les]

I have never met Phillip. I "know" him from his postings here and on another board. I suspect he will survive. Phillip's post must make you think, after all, he is one of us! I have watched him ask and answer questions with candor and grace. (other than being from Alabama, he can't be all bad

)

I will meet him in New Orleans this coming January only because he will be wondering who the hell is that short bald guy raising hell in the exhibition hall! Besides, he will have a name tag on and tall skinny guys from the south stand out. ala Brian Goodman!

[Brian G]

My deepest sympathies to you Phillip. I'm a recovering alcoholic myself, with almost 18 years sober. I can tell you from experience that if one of us wants to drink ourselves into oblivion, it's all but impossible to stop us. We're stubborn, clever, and we know how to get our way with those who care about us. Please don't blame yourself; blame the illness. It's far more powerful than you or I.

Brian G.

[kurt]

Phillip, you are a brave man. I read a definition of "hero" in some forgotten book; it was something along the lines of "a man that isn't doing what he wants to do, but has risen to what life has called on him to do". Or something similar to that.

Sounds like it fits you neatly. I've always appreciated the vibe of your posts; unlike some, you've always had an overview and non-judmental approach to this thing that we do.

You've got a brother in Chicago that appreciates your strength and contributions to this gathering place. We share a few similar life experiences. Call me anytime if you feel like talking. Sometimes a voice on the other end of the line is what gets me feeling like things are going to turn out all right.

[hausdok]

Hi Phillip,

Gee, you've had some tough breaks. I'm very sorry for your troubles. I know it sounds hollow, because it's you who's going through it now, but many of us have, in one way or another, been where you are - some of us are still there. We're resilient creatures, we can endure a lot and still bounce back. You'll get through this.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Bain]

Phillip, I'm profoundly sorry for your loss, and also for what you're currently enduring. The magic words that would make you feel better simply don't exist, but I'm hoping things turn out as well as they possibly can.

You are not responsible for what happened to your wife. My brother is an alcoholic and a drug-abuser, and the travesties he's committed against himself and others are beyond belief. I love him, but my feelings for him vacillate between ineffable sadness and anger so fierce that I want to choke him at times. He's wrecked three cars during the past eight montha, hasn't had a job since last February, and currently lives with my mother. I can't honestly say all possibilities have been exhausted, but my family and I have gone to tremendous lengths to help him, or more accurately, help him help himself.

It's frustrating. I can't reprogram his mind to help him, I can't work my ass off to help him, I can't spend money to help him--there's truly nothing I can do to make him better. He's been homeless. He's been in jail. He's alienated himself from everyone he's ever known.

But he's still an alcoholic.

If he's ever going to change, the impetus will have to come from inside him. There's nothing anyone else can do to effect that change.

You didn't let your wife die. It seems more likely that you prolonged and brought joy to her life.

[Chris Bernhardt]

It's amazing the tragedies we all go thru and keep going thru.

In August my ex-wife died (42 years old) suddenly. She was upside down financially and had no life insurance. Now I have all the kids back in the house. 8 all together now ( 3 from my first - 19, 17 & 13, 3 from the second - 6, 4, & 2, a step daughter 12 and a neice 15).

Thank God work is still trickling in and for friends, family and neighbors!

In September after ex died my friends and neighbors reroofed the back of my house for free, which had blown off last winter, they built a big storage shed for free so we could get everything out of the garage to put my two oldest sons in there, and framed, insulated and finished the garage for free so they would not freeze to death.

I know a lot of what you went thru Phillip. Watched my father do the same thing until he died this year. My Mother struggles with depression from fear, regret and guilt. They had hit bottom so many times, lost about 3 houses and landed on the street twice. Nobody in either family would help either time except for me.

Chris, Oregon