It’s 3 a.m. when Isaac Opiyo leaves the house, pulls his cab onto Davenport Street and drives off into the darkness.
As a cabby he needs to get out early to share the morning airport rush.
No family on Davenport Street has felt the downturn more than the Opiyos. Isaac, a real estate analyst, was laid off twice when the commercial real estate market struggled.
Spending up to 14 hours a day in a cab isn’t easy for Opiyo, but he’s willing to do it to provide for his wife and three children.
“You get to eat humble pie,’’ said Opiyo, a soft-spoken Kenyan immigrant with a degree in real estate and land use economics from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. “But it’s something to put food on the table and make you sleep better at night.’’
During the past year, there have been some sleepless nights.
The worst came in April, when the foreclosure notice arrived. For several months it appeared they could lose their home.
But in July the family was able to work out a mortgage modification, something lenders have been encouraged to do under an Obama administration program. The new agreement reduced the monthly payment by 20 percent and added to the end of the loan the four payments the Opiyos had missed.
The house was saved.
Opiyo knows he could be worse off. One day he got stiffed on a $15 fare. When he went to the customer’s house later to collect the promised payment, he found an eviction notice on the front door.
He didn’t even bother knocking.
Opiyo’s wife, Christie, took a job waiting tables at a local bar, often working late into the night. In between, the couple sleep in shifts and shuttle the kids to and from school. It all seems to work out.
While the Opiyos trimmed Christmas spending last year and probably will again this year, Opiyo said family activities have remained a priority. They’ve maintained their YMCA membership and even took a weekend trip to the Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City, Kan.
“Just to have a weekend when everyone is laughing and having fun, it helps you forget the day-to-day struggles. It helped me.’’
With the commercial real estate market still far from recovery, Opiyo is pessimistic about future job prospects. So in addition to driving a cab, he started his own business providing property valuations for people looking to buy or sell businesses. And he recently received a provisional patent for a new product idea.
Opiyo breaks off the interview after receiving a text message.
“I’ve got a job,’’ he said, replying to the dispatcher that he’ll make the pickup in five minutes.
In a flash, Opiyo is back in his cab and off again.
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