Amerifirst Site Manager

One thing this recession has done was rip the mask off of artificially inflated wealth and expose the underbelly of what people are really made of. While the average American continues to struggle to put food on the table and lights on at night, even the uber-rich are feeling the squeeze.

Not feeling a tear well up in your eye? According to a segment feature on The Today Show called, “The Party’s Over,” the “rich” or people who got rich quick from the mortgage boom several years ago are seeing their toys disappear quicker than Augustus Gloop in Willy Wonka’s chocolate river.

The Wall Street Journal profiled several prominent high end repo men in a March 20 article and discussed the massive amount of wealth and gluttony these agents encounter. One repo man claims to have reposed an $18,000 Gulfstream jets and 110 foot yachts anchored in one of the hotbeds of fake wealth—South Florida.

One highly sought repo man says that 70% of the items he has to repossess come from people who lost money as a result from the real estate meltdown. This includes developers, builders, real estate agents and contractors.

Banks seek high end repo services to not only reclaim the property, but also to make repairs and spruce up the item so it is presentable for resale.

The Wall Street Journal interviewed busy repo man, Ken Cage who said that many of his rich targets don’t meet and greet him with the level of violence as he encountered with other targets. He says that jets and yachts are easier to track and obtain thanks to the FAA and marine records. He also relies upon his network of marine captains, dock workers and aircraft pilots to help him obtain toys.

It’s not all “roses and sunshine” in the land of repos, Cage says. He’s been chased with shovels and even in a speedboat. Cage also says that work is extremely depressing.

"Here we were, taking minivans with child seats in the back, or going to someone's job to take their car," he says. "I had a tough time with that."

In the end, these repos are just part of the market correcting itself. Another lesson in money management and not borrowing more than you can afford. Even the rich got caught up in the hype and are seeing their “prizes” dwindle.

AmeriFirst customers don’t have to look over their shoulders for the repo man. That’s because we have always scrutinized every loan and agonized over every detail to ensure that foreclosure or default does not enter the picture. Sure, some of our customers have fallen on hard times as a result of the recession…we’ve all been touched by tough times.

However, we don’t have to keep a repo man in our back pocket to reclaim items that our customers can’t afford. Our lending standards have always, and continue to be solid and we stand by our customers as we navigate our way out of the Great Recession.

Wall Street Journal Article

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