Developer Takes Own Life When Faced With Foreclosure

Posted on June 2nd, 2008 by saman

In early May, a 42 year old developer by the name of David Moss took his own life. On May 6, Mr. Moss drove to a subdivision he was developing in Forsyth County, Georgia. This subdivision was about a mile from where he lived. The subdivision was being prepared for about twenty homes but the homes had not been built yet. When he got to the subdivision, he called one of his workers and told him to call the sheriff’s office and send a deputy to his location. After the phone call, Mr. Moss went into the woods and killed himself.

David Moss was in financial trouble and had a number of bank loans that were souring. The housing crisis across the nation is taking a very large financial and human toll. Individuals are losing their homes to foreclosures, home builders are suffering, and supply firms are losing out. Lenders are also suffering along with developers of residential lots. On April 11th, the Atlanta Business Chronicle had a story that reported on how there is a mental fallout coming out of the longest real estate slump in twenty years.

While congress is spending time debating the three hundred billion dollar bill to help the housing market, there is mounting evidence of how severe the housing meltdown is becoming.

A week after Mr. Moss died, the United States Commerce Department has put out numbers that indicate the sale of single-family homes fell by one percent. This is the twelfth month in a row there has been a decline.

Banks that secure loans to developers are now in trouble. Loans that are past-due or delinquent are now over the level that was reported twenty years ago during the Savings and Loan Crisis. Some attorney and industries are projecting that some banks will fail later on this year.

There are thirteen billion dollars in overdue bank loans in Atlanta.

In order to start the foreclosure process on a home in Georgia the foreclosure has to publish an advertisement for four weeks. After that on the first Tuesday of each month, called Foreclosure Tuesday, houses are auctioned on the steps of the courthouse. Dewrell & Sacks track foreclosures in Georgia and they have stated that on June 3 eight thousand homes in Georgia are going to begin the foreclosure process.

There are many homeowners that file for bankruptcy to stop foreclosure. In the beginning of this year, filings for bankrupts have increased by seventy three percent in North Georgia. On the day Moss committee suicide, four hundred and sixty six homeowners filed for bankruptcy. Urban Atlanta has over one hundred forty eight thousand home lots that are undeveloped. Moss and developers like him are especially vulnerable in today’s housing market. Developers purchase land, build roads, electrical lines and sewers and then try to sell the land to a builder so the builder can build homes. When the housing markets slows down, and those who own homes have to deal with stricter credit guidelines in order to get mortgages, there are some land developers that will have difficulty finding home building companies that will want to purchase their lots.