Making Things Easier in Tough Times

Have you ever been in a position where you didn't have the most basic necessity? Well, I have.

After working as a corporate executive for eight years - suddenly I lost my job. I thought to myself "no problem". I figured for sure I would find another job quite quickly. After all, I had a skill set in place and years of good experience. However, I quickly realized that because there were so many unemployed workers - getting a job wasn't going to be easy.

Bad quickly went to worse. After going through all of my savings to make the mortgage payment, I eventually ended up losing the house anyway. It took about a year to go through my savings. I only did it because I was so confident that I was going to get a job in no time.

Although my son Stevie and I found an apartment right away, it definitely was a change of lifestyle.

Stevie (who was born with Down's Syndrome) only knew that we were getting a "new apartment". He had no idea the dire situation we were in and I wanted to keep it that way. He was soooo happy about getting a "new apartment" that his excitement made all of the heartache I was feeling go away! That precious boy made all of this so much easier to deal with.

So we moved into our new apartment. I thought we were all set. My car payments were up to date (no worries there) and Unemployment was managing to pay the bills.

Then it happened. Exactly six days after moving in, I looked out my bedroom window and saw my beautiful Ford Escape being taken away on the back of a tow truck! After my initial shock wore off, I called Ford Credit to find out what happened. After all, my car payments were current. Turns out, it was a different creditor altogether. It seems while struggling to make my mortgage payment on a house I ended up losing anyway, my other commitments went to the wayside and I was in financial trouble.

Now, I was left with no car, making it impossible to even get to a job interview, much less getting to a job.

That's when I got smart, and after doing some research, started going to auto auctions in my area. It takes a little patience and a lot of self control (because you just want to bid on everything, there are so many great deals).

The first time I was extremely scared and all alone. The other bidders were incredibly nice and took me under their wing to show me the ropes. Really if you just watch for a little while, you catch on very quickly!

Not only were a lot of the people there in the same boat as me, but there were also people there just to make investments. They buy cheap (new) cars seized by repossession and sell them for an amazing profit.

By my third visit I had found the car I wanted and was able to get it for peanuts. Now the majority of my stress has been taken away and the future looks brighter. You would be surprised at how such a little thing can turn your whole outlook around. I also made new friends in the process!

When I started to write this article, I thought "is this really going to help people?" Then I realized that if I had read an article like this long ago I could have solved my problem a lot earlier.

Here are a couple of tips to make your experience as pleasant as possible:

** Find an auction in your local newspaper. There are so many, there is no reason to use a lot of gas traveling to one.
** Figure out how much you want to spend and take CASH. Most auctioneers will only accept cash.
** Be open-minded! Try to make friends. Most people are very nice and will have no problem showing you the ropes.

I hope this helps anyone who is in a similar situation I was in - or anyone who is looking to make some money investing in seized cars and making a nice profit.

Happy Motoring!!