Local man struggled to reach recovery

By Ed Runyan

‘Thank God bankruptcy is there,’ a Boardman man said about his financial dilemmas after he lost his job.

Editor’s note: John’s real name is not being used because of this story’s sensitive topic.

BOARDMAN — Four years ago, John had a nice home in Boardman, a wife, two children and a good-paying job.

But something was bothering him: his afternoon hours at work.

Instead of spending evenings with his kids, John only got to see them for a little while in the morning. In the evening, he settled for a phone call home.

“You give them a hug and a kiss before they get on the bus in the morning and that was it till the next day. All you did Monday through Friday is talk to them on the phone for five minutes,” he said.

So when a real estate developer he knew offered him the chance to work during the day as a salesman, he decided to take a chance. He gave up his job of 15 years and dove in.

But the new job didn’t go as well as he hoped. Nine months in, John was unhappy, and so was his boss. John spent the last 30 days looking for another job.

It was November 2004, and John discovered that the best he could find was work paying about $7.50 an hour. With such a drastic cut in pay, John knew tough times were ahead.

His wife went to work, but it wasn’t enough.

John’s American dream came crashing down.

“One day I was cleaning bathrooms [at the new job] just wondering what happened. Three or four weeks ago I was making decent money and had good benefits,” he said.

Within six or seven months, he and his wife split. He believes the loss of income contributed to the loss of his marriage.

Then came the decision to file for bankruptcy in the fall of 2005.

“It was a tough, tough decision,” John said of the bankruptcy. “You know you’re setting yourself up for a long road to hoe to get your credit back.”

The bank foreclosed on his house in early 2006, and John’s family moved out soon after.

John hated to leave his home of 10 years. It meant leaving behind neighbors and friends. He believed the bank expected his family to vacate, but what would become of the yard and the house? “There was a lot of feeling guilty to doing that,” he said.

The house will come up for a sheriff’s sale later this year.

Throughout that turbulent year, John worked at his new job. His employer promised him that if he worked hard, he would have a future there.

“I busted my butt with this company for three years,” John said. “God love ’em, they kept their promise,” he said. He has been promoted several times and finally feels fairly secure, financially.

The ironic thing is John now has his evenings off Monday through Friday, “and the kids don’t live with me. They live with their mom.”

John said he heard a politician on talk radio recently, discussing how the key to preventing foreclosure is learning how to manage a foreclosure before it happens.

But in his case, that wasn’t an issue. He had background in the housing industry, didn’t take out an adjustable rate mortgage or make any other mistakes with his loan.

The loss of his real estate job and the reduction in income was 90 percent of the reason for John’s foreclosure, he said.

Another factor is that his payment, around $600 per month in the beginning, rose to around $720 toward the end as a result of additional property taxes, he said.

John says he doesn’t regret having filed for bankruptcy. “Thank God bankruptcy is there,” he said of being able to walk away from most of his debts.

He has accepted the fact that he will probably have to rent an apartment for about five more years before he will qualify for another home loan.

Right now he’s just thankful to have a decent job again.

“I think I’m lucky, honestly. I’m very blessed to be where I’m at right now. You realize how it can all disappear in a minute,” he said.

runyan@vindy.com