In bad economy, some people find niche that pays

Tom Normile cleans foreclosed homes. Ian Ratner guides companies through bankruptcy. Vera Fossali helps people sell their gold jewelry.

The worst economy in a generation has been very good to Normile, Ratner and Fossali. Their businesses are booming — largely because people are losing their homes, companies or financial security.

None take joy in the misery of others. But all take pleasure — and fatter paychecks — from the surge in business.

“We already have the perception of being grave-dancers,” said Ratner, the Buckhead-based bankruptcy advisor. “I don’t mind it, but I don’t want to be seen as the guy praying for typhoid.”

Recessions, said Dean Baker, co-director of the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research, create some unfortunate jobs — including movers, bankruptcy attorneys and repo men.

“People are going to find ways to make a profit, even if they’re sort of morbid tasks for a useful purpose,” Baker said.

VERA FOSSALI

Fossali, 61, throws latter-day Tupperware parties with a twist.

She finds women willing to sponsor “gold parties” in their homes. Neighbors and friends bring gold jewelry. An appraiser eyeballs the merchandise and makes an offer.

Unlike those plastic-container sell-a-thons, the women — they’re virtually all women — can leave with hundreds or thousands of dollars.

At a recent “party,” a Marietta woman walked away with $1,000.

“She and her husband live on the upper floor of their house because they needed a new furnace for the lower level,” Fossali said. “Now they can afford to buy one. That’s awesome. I feel this business brings joy to many people.”

Fossali saw a sign last October offering to buy old gold. She made $293 trading in her jewelry and then started working on commission as an event coordinator for Gold Fundraising Concepts of Marietta, run by Arnie Shapiro and Mike Nelson.

Shapiro, a retired jeweler, decided a year ago to buy gold directly from the public. Instead of the more common “bring-us-your-gold” entreaties found on TV and in newspapers, Shapiro promoted fundraisers with schools, synagogues, churches and libraries. He then added “gold parties.”

Customers receive the daily price quoted on the London gold exchange for their gold; an ounce brought $900 on Wednesday. Prices depend on carats.

Shapiro might buy $10,000 in gold at a fundraiser. The sponsor can receive up to 40 percent of that amount. Shapiro will melt down the gold and sell it to a caster or manufacturer.

Business has grown at least 40 percent a month since October, he said. Shapiro has hired six representatives, including Fossali, who’ll handle 72 parties or fundraisers this month.

“My crowd is the suburban housewife who wants some vacation money, or her husband’s hours at work got cut, or maybe they want some new landscaping, or they’re just behind on their mortgage,” Shapiro said. “As the economy got worse, my business got better.”

RONALD GLASS, IAN RATNER

To many, the spectacular financial failings of the nation’s banks and businesses boggle the mind.

Not to Glass and Ratner, the Buckhead financial advisors living large off of what Glass, 62, calls “probably the greatest economic slowdown in my lifetime.”

GlassRatner Advisory and Capital Group LLC handles bankruptcies, liquidations and debt restructurings for banks, financial institutions, public and private companies. Their client list reads like a recessionary roadmap: regional homebuilders, commercial developers, small- and medium-sized banks and mortgage lenders.

Deals they’ve done: an Arkansas bank; an Albany, Ga., auto finance company; an ethanol plant in Ohio; and the feds untangling a Ponzi scheme in Alpharetta. Their clients owe banks and lenders in excess of $10 billion.

“We are built to handle crisis situations and many businesses today are in crisis mode,” Glass said. Eight years ago, the company started with four workers. Today, 42 employees work out of offices in Atlanta, California, Florida, Nevada and New York. Revenues have doubled since 2007, the privately held company reports without offering details.

The profitable times will likely continue.

“I see massive trouble ahead in private equity portfolios and hedge funds,” said Ratner, 43. “They’re ready to get hammered.”

TOM NORMILE

Normile is due a little recessionary fortune.

Laid-off from home-building jobs three times in three years, Normile switched sides and now cleans already-built houses, offices, schools and stores. And he got a contract last week to clean as many as 20 foreclosed homes per month at $75 a pop.

“I’m looking at all the angles. I don’t turn down anything,” said Normile, 48, who runs Always Tom’s Cleaning Service from his Marietta house. “It’s unfortunate people are losing homes due to foreclosure (but) somebody’s got to clean ‘em. Why not me?”

Furniture is carted away before Normile sweeps, vacuums, dusts, washes windows and countertops.

His territory stretches from Fairburn to Canton. He’ll hire his brother, another victim of the home-building morass, and maybe two or three helpers. Six-day weeks are the norm.

“If there’s work, I’m doing it,” said Normile, a married father of three.