Repo Man calls

Boats, motor homes being repossessed as housing slumps (August 24 – San Diego Union-Tribune)

 

With paperwork in hand, Ashley Sparks set off in search of his newest target – a 2005 Winnebago motor home.

Sparks, an adjuster for ABA Recovery Service, found the vehicle on a well-manicured street in Point Loma, surrounded by homes nearing the million-dollar mark.

This was an easy one. The owner willingly handed over the keys, and Sparks' partner drove off in the latest luxury item repossessed by the Grantville company. Egley-Sparks' adjusters have hooked up and hauled away opulent motor homes worth $800,000 and powerboats with price tags of $300,000. They've picked up travel trailers, dirt bikes, all-terrain vehicles and the trailers used to carry them.

Never in her 28 years in the repossession business has Egley-Sparks seen so many discretionary luxuries being lost to hard times. And it's happening all across the country, economists and industry analysts say.


Even as the government stubbornly clings to the illusion that we are not yet in a recession (“Look! GDP is still positive and inflation is only 1%!), the anecdotes from the real world tell a very different story.


By the time people are coughing up $300k boats and motor homes in “record amounts,” we are deep into recession territory.


Soon people will be openly talking about ways to scrimp at cocktail parties, cheap will become the new chic, and everybody will wonder what all the fuss used to be about.


And, this close to the election, this scares Washington DC and their sacred 98% incumbent re-election rate.

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://peakprosperity.com/repo-man-calls-2/