Sunday, July 31, 2005

Robin Buckson / The Detroit News Dina Harrell is among 20 unemployed residents in Metro Detroit using the Kansas City-based mortgage lender NovaStar as a job bank.

Firm finds jobs rather than forecloses

Kansas City's NovaStar helps its unemployed mortgage holders find work, keep their homes.

By Louis Aguilar / The Detroit News

Comment on this story Send this story to a friend Get Home Delivery

Just thinking about the phone call she had to make was keeping Dina Harrell up at night.

Unable to find a job for months, the 50-year-old Detroiter was going to have to tell her mortgage company that she couldn't make her monthly house payment.

So the response she got astounded her: NovaStar Mortgage said it would work with her to help her find a job and try to avoid foreclosure.

"I said -- maybe I kind of yelled it a little -- 'God is good!'" Harrell recalls.

Harrell is among nearly 100 unemployed Michigan residents, including 20 in Metro Detroit, using the Kansas City, Mo.-based mortgage lender as a job bank. Nationwide, more than 800 are enrolled the program, called LaunchPoint, that benefits both borrower and lender: Struggling homeowners get help finding the job they need to keep their home, and NovaStar avoids foreclosing their loans and sacrificing the income they provide.

"Job loss is the main reason our clients fall behind on their payments, and we understand the job market in manufacturing states like Michigan" said Vicki Lewis-Coates, manager of the LaunchPoint program. "It made sense to us to help our clients, and help ourselves, and help them keep their homes."

In another sign of the tough economic times in the state, more Michigan residents are enrolled in the program than from any other state, NovaStar officials said. Since rolling out the program last August, the mortgage company has helped 144 laid-off homeowners find new jobs, including 16 in Michigan.

With one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation, Michigan, perhaps not surprisingly, also has a skyrocketing foreclosure rate. The percentage of home foreclosures in the state has been double the national average since 2000, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Michigan is losing jobs, mainly in the manufacturing sector, in numbers unrivaled by other U.S. states, while personal income has remained virtually stagnant for the past five years, according to state labor data. Here, as well as nationally, many people, whether jobless or underemployed, are going to unprecedented lengths to find work.

"There's a cottage industry of outplacement services, personal job coaches, online job banks and job consultants that keeps growing and growing," said John Challenger, head of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., an international job placement firm based in Chicago.

"It's a sign that people jump from job to job at a far quicker rate than in the past. Many times they are forced to jump because of downsizing, mergers, etc."

Last year, for example, a Southfield firm opened that focuses on helping workers -- whether they are unemployed or employed but looking for a better job -- hone their job interview skills. Clients pay IntervieWize between $95 to $500 to have their interview technique scrutinized through mock interviews and personal critiques. "There's lot of job insecurity out there," IntervieWize founder Jill Jordan said.

Given the job climate, NovaStar's LaunchPoint program is a creative response to the times.

Harrell, who was a dental assistant for 11 years, has been working with the mortgage company for about four months trying to find a job in Metro Detroit. She lost her job because the dentist she was working for is relocating his family to Las Vegas.

Her adviser is Scott Burnett, one of two NovaStar job counselors in Kansas City, Mo. The company also has a counselor in Seattle and will soon have another in Fort Myers, Fla.

With Burnett's assistance, Harrell has sharpened her resume. Because she also has a cosmetology degree, he advised her to create separate resumes to apply for cosmetology or dental assistant jobs. He has conducted mock phone interviews with her to improve her interviewing skills so she doesn't fumble basic questions, such as, "What are your strengths?" Burnett also advised her to act quickly once she eyes an opportunity.

It may have paid off. Last month, Harrell met a dentist during a chance meeting and talked up her skills. The next morning, she sent the dentist her resume. Last week, she got a call from the dentist's office about setting up a formal interview.

If Harrell gets a new job and works for at least 90 days, NovaStar will begin restructuring her debt, which means getting her loan payments up to date and extending the term of her mortgage. If she takes a job that pays less than her last one, NovaStar will consider lowering her payment and modifying the terms of her loan to make it more affordable.

"Misery has been replaced by hope," Harrell says. "I've had my house for 19 years. I raised two children here. It's a terrible feeling to think all of that can be taken away from you."

You can reach Louis Aguilar at (313) 222-2760 or laguilar@detnews.com.