As experienced judgment collectors serving clients in six states, we make it our business to discover exactly what debtors own while attempting to collect payment. It pays for us to have that information. In fact, it pays big.
Judgments are the result of a court action that allows us to leverage certain legal resources in order to collect. Among those resources are debtor assets. If we don’t know exactly what a debtor owns, we do not know where our client stands in terms of collection.
Of course, some types of assets are completely off-limits. Other assets are restricted in some states. So again, we need to know exactly what we are dealing with in order to properly pursue an outstanding judgment.
We Are Fond of Real Estate
Among all the assets debtors typically own, we are especially fond of real estate. We are able to leverage real estate in multiple ways when debtors are resistant to making payment. In some cases, real estate can be foreclosed upon, and the proceeds put toward debt repayment. In other cases, just the threat of foreclosure is enough to motivate a debtor to pay.
All sorts of properties can help us do our job better. From vacation homes to rental properties and commercial real estate, property is a tangible asset with known value. That makes it an excellent tool for getting judgments taken care of.
Examples from Our Files
To illustrate just how valuable real estate is to our success, we thought we would briefly discuss a couple of cases from our own files. The first one involves a debtor who owned a piece of commercial property that had not been disclosed. We found it during a standard real estate records search.
Not only did that search uncover the property, but it also revealed the property was for sale. That is all we needed to approach the debtor about payment. The debtor was made aware that we knew of the sale and that steps could be taken against it if necessary. That was enough to prompt the debtor to agree to a workable settlement.
In another case, we utilized a property search to uncover an airplane hangar owned by a debtor who had managed to avoid payment for quite some time. The hangar was located in another county, though still close to the debtor’s primary residence. We only had to disclose the fact that we knew about the hangar to gain his cooperation in paying the debt.
It’s All in the Search
Real estate’s built-in value makes it one of the most important assets for collecting on bad judgments. But if that’s the case, why do so many companies trying to collect judgments in-house fail to do so successfully? It is all in the search.
Maybe you’ve landed on our website because your company can’t seem to collect. That being the case, we are willing to bet that your accounting team has neither the time nor the experience to diligently search property records. That’s okay. Both your accounting team and your company have more important things to worry about.
On the other hand, judgment collection is all we do. Searching property records is part of the normal course of business for us. We know how to do it right and we have access to all the best resources.
Real estate is just one of the many assets we can look at to get paid. In the end, it is important for us to be fully aware of all of a debtor’s assets so that we know what we’re working with.