How to Save Your Florida Home from Foreclosure

Explained by a Ft. Lauderdale Bankruptcy Lawyer

Particularly in today’s economy, falling behind in your mortgage is too common. People can miss payments due to many reasons. However, being unable to pay your mortgage does not mean foreclosure is inevitable. Ft. Lauderdale bankruptcy attorney Jeffrey Solomon helps people understand their options when the possibility of losing their homes confronts them.

Steps Leading to Foreclosure

Various factors that can lead to foreclosure include:

• Loss of income due to loss of job, medical problems or divorce
• Higher mortgage payments resulting from rising interest rates due to variable mortgages, equity lines and negative amortization mortgages
• Rising property taxes and property insurance costs

How can you avoid foreclosure? The first thing you should try is communicating with your lender before foreclosure proceedings begin. They may allow you to enter a work-out, which will prevent you from incurring bank attorney’s fees and other costs.

Foreclosure Process

The state of Florida has a judicial foreclosure system, meaning that the lender must complete a court process to complete foreclosure. This lengthy process may take months, even years, as it involves multiple steps. The foreclosure process goes as follows:

• First, a process server will deliver a summons and complaint of foreclosure to your door.
• You then have 20 days to file a response, though you should contact your attorney immediately after your lender serves you.
• The lender must file a motion with the court to obtain a judgment of foreclosure – with advanced notice to the homeowner.
• The judgment of foreclosure will issue a foreclosure sale date in approximately 30 days, though requesting an extension is possible.
• There must be an official publication listing the date that an auction will sell the property.

If foreclosure proceedings have begun on your home, do not panic. You will not actually lose the property until the foreclosure sale takes place, and you may be able to file an objection to the foreclosure sale within ten days after the sale if you have legitimate grounds.

Ft. Lauderdale bankruptcy attorney Jeffrey Solomon can help you during this time. Attorney actions possible in a foreclosure case include reviewing the complaint, filing a motion to extend time with the court to undertake a review of your defenses, making sure the lender properly takes the necessary steps to foreclose, and requesting a foreclosure sale date longer than the usual 30 days.

Foreclosure Options

You also have other options he can discuss with you to save your home. These include:

• Coordinating payments to reinstate fully the mortgage, which requires making all payments necessary to make the mortgage current, including attorney’s fees and costs.
• Reviewing the possibility of financing.
• Discussing the advisability of selling your home to avoid losing equity in foreclosure.
• Discussing the potential of a short sale.
• Reviewing a possible loan modification.

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

Filing Chapter 13 Bankruptcy is usually a last resort for saving our home. It allows the borrower to reinstate the mortgage during a period of up to five years by paying the regular monthly payment plus an additional amount to catch up. A Chapter 13 Bankruptcy also allows the borrower extra time to try to sell or refinance. However, a Chapter 13 Bankruptcy can be the first and best option to save your home.

The Law Office of Jeffrey Solomon can also advise you on the possibility of filing Chapter 13 Bankruptcy to eliminate an equity line or second mortgage as a lien against your home. “Lien stripping” is only possible if your home has a value that is less than the balance you owe on the first mortgage.

We provided an attorney seminar about Chapter 13 bankruptcy for our clients.  For many people, a home is a dwelling place and a financial investment, as well as a place to make memories. It is not easy to relinquish something so treasured. Contact Ft. Lauderdale bankruptcy lawyer Jeffrey Solomon today to discuss saving your home.