A Typical week: Repossessions down the entire East Coast

It was around February and ironically, we had gotten around 6 repossession orders the same day. Not that getting six orders is rare, but these were different, they were all on the east coast up the line. We began working on the orders right away. I personally was in hopes they would all be still on the East Coast. They weren’t cars, they were large boats, in fact one was a house boat, two were large sail boats and the rest were 32 foot plus go fast boats,  and one lobster fishing boat.

Strange enough while we did have to skip trace these out pretty good, we really didn’t have any issues at all with any of them, they were all relatively close to the original addresses, at least in the same cities or close enough. Ironically I was in NYC that week and even more funny is the fact that I drove and my trip was just about over so stopping off at each state on the way home was perfect. My office sent me the files so I could map each one out. Keep in mind, usual protocol is to fly to the states or countries in order to handle the repo and fly out or sail out.

First one of the slew was a Ferry ride away

It was a fishing boat just across from where I was staying in NY so that was the first shot. I made arrangements with a captain that morning and the whole deal went simple, so simple in fact I was able to complete that and get rolling to to the next one. I figured that at least 2 a day was possible, it would easily be more but the distance between each one forced it to be right at around 2 per day. So a normal ride back from NY to Florida is about 18 hours, a non normal ride with 6 repossessions is about 3 to 4 days but well worth it and very interesting checking out some of these cities that you may not check out usually.

Repossession Atlantic City

Second stop was in Atlantic City, NJ. that same evening I arrive in Atlantic city and grab a room, I already checked the dock and the boat was there. I stayed right at the hotel my first repossession was at, I called the captain I knew and told him 6am. I decided to play a little roulette with a couple hundred while there and have a few drinks upon arrival. I get up after around 4 hours of sleep at 5am and get over to the marina downstairs, but I still had to drive the car around closer. I shut my car off and walked over on the icey dock. It was freezing so bad that I left my car running with the heat blasted and after a few minutes on board taking pictures I would run back to my car and warm up a bit, I really didn’t pack much thinking 6 or 7 days and I am done. I was waiting on a captain to show up as well.

It was still pitch black and ice cold, he finally showed with another guy for a 2 man crew. He had all the arrangements previously faxed to him so he knew exactly where to take it. I called it in and I was gone, back into the scorching heat blasting in my car. Something about that morning at the dock was just ultra cold in comparison to another day. I had the condition report and pictures in hand, by 7am the job was done with no interference what so ever.

Maryland and Virginia Repo

It wasn’t much longer that morning and I was in the state of Maryland. I had a large sail boat in MD and then off to Virginia. I arrive in Maryland and had plans that day to grab some crab cakes and steamed shrimp. If you have eaten Maryland crab cakes, each time in the area, its a good idea to stop. Sort of like when I traveled to the mountains of Tennessee maybe Knoxville, there is something about a nice breakfast in a mountain Cracker Barrel.

This repossession is a 32 foot go fast boat at a house on a trailer. I made arrangements with a guy from the marina to meet me at the address once I confirmed the boat was there, I had no way to pull the boat as I was in a Porsche 911. I pulled up and sure enough right next to the house sits this covered beauty. I get out verify the HIN (hull number) and call my guy to come over right away. It appeared nobody was home so the sooner the better. While nobody was home the neighbor across the street just didn’t stop staring the whole time through the kitchen window. I thought surely the cops would show but never did. It took over an hour for the marina guy to get there and it was one of those hours that felt like all day. I couldn’t believe no one stopped us from hooking this boat up, come to think of it the debtor was probably in the house and just wanted it over with.  I follow him to the marina and then do a condition report with photos and I realize I am out of film already. I figure i’ll stop for film before the next repo.

This one took so long that I knew I would be staying at the next stop in Virginia.

I made it to Virginia but didn’t realize how far off my path was, Smithfield Virginia, this very small town, in fact it is the place that makes the famous Smithfield ham, which by the way is no longer an American company but that’s a whole different story you may want to look up as the American deterioration continues, lets just say you may want to refrain from eating ham soon. In fact as soon as I arrived in Smithfield about an hour or two off my path, I ran into the large factory that makes the ham. I asked someone for directions and made it to the marina. Upon arrival the dock master gave me a hard time as I imagine he was friends with the debtor. It was a town with a small marina and this was a pretty big boat. In fact I had to hurry up as the tide had to be a certain level to be able to move this boat.

We spoke for a few minutes and he called the police. The police showed up, I showed the cop the paperwork and amazingly the cop told him the unit is mine. I called Towboat USA and in less then 30 minutes they were on site, I had the condition report and no pictures as I ran out of film, this place was so far off the beaten path of 95 so I just figured I would call the marina the unit is getting towed to and have them forward me the pictures, I called then and no answer, no biggie I figured I would call tomorrow, the boat would be there and be safe. As it turned out, it cost a little more than usual. It seems when others know or think there is money involved automatically they have to gouge. It’s unfortunate but it’s life and ultimately it was my fault for going off the path 2 hours without film, who would have known nobody in that town sells film anywhere.

Bern, North Carolina is the next repossession stop

This one was a tough one as it was a house boat on a smaller river. This one took some coordination and organization to figure out how to move it. So I ended up spending many hours in the area and a couple hour job seemed like a an entire day, so from arrival in the early afternoon to moving on my way to South Carolina. Bern was a nice area, it was actually snowing when I arrived but lightly, which made for a nice view but didn’t make the job any easier.

As you can see while getting 6 repossessions in a week is not unusual, the thing with this that was unusual is they were all in a row almost as if the banks knew I was in NYC that week with my car. Normally, you get a job in Texas, or even Seattle and another in the Bahamas. If the path was broken up as usual, I would have just had to leave my car at the airport and fly out to one location midway back from NY, so really no biggie but you get an idea of what nationwide repossessions involve.