Foreclosure Defense Options

If you are among the thousands of homeowners who have received a summons or a complaint, you are being sued. Your bank has filed a lawsuit against you and is asking the court to take away your home. 

For most of us, our home is our biggest investment, financially and emotionally. Facing the loss of this part of our lives and our futures is often devastating, embarrassing and almost always confusing. You may hear stories or get advice from friends, family, real estate agents or even the person who served you with the summons. None of these people have the professional expertise that you now need. They do not know the law, know your rights, or have the experience to help you determine the best way for you to protect yourself and your family

Fight Your Foreclosure

For you to have the best chance of keeping your home and protecting yourself against future financial disaster, you should immediately seek the help of an attorney. Time is of the essence, since you only have 20 days from the date of the summons or complaint to respond in writing.  Even if you decide to do nothing, you owe it to yourself and your family to examine all your options and make an informed decision. Don’t gamble your future.

 You should definitely understand that at this point in your life, your bank is no longer your friend. Do not believe that they “really don’t want” your house. If they didn’t want it, they would not have sued you. Do not believe it if they tell you that as long as you are working on a loan modification plan, they will not foreclose on you. They can and they will.

Most of the foreclosure lawsuits being filed in Florida are improper. They rely upon inaccurate and blatantly false information. Documents are commonly designed to hide the history and ownership of your mortgage and note. The media has covered what many are now calling Florida’s “Foreclosure Fiasco” in depth. You may wish to review some of the more recent stories about the situation

The Owens Law Firm can show you how and why your mortgage company is not working with you, and what you can do to fight back. We will thoroughly explain the process, including ploys like the “lost note” phenomenon and how it can and can’t help your situation. We will let you know who you should trust and who should avoid, like loan modification companies. Most importantly, we will make sure you understand your options so that you can act with confidence and know you are making the best possible decisions to protect your interests.

We will determine what defenses are available to you and use these in court to stop the foreclosure. Many people refer to this as delaying the foreclosure, but it does much more than that. By fighting the foreclosure, you will have time to step back and carefully determine your best course of action, and you will know that the decisions you make are based on accurate information. Sometimes our clients will decide that it is best to simply walk away from their home instead of fighting to pay the bank twice as much as the house is now worth. But for many, the valuable time gained by fighting the foreclosure provides the chance to possibly improve their financial situation, find employment, or for a loan modification decision to come through when there would not have been time before.

Loan Modification

The Loan Modification today is very similar to a unicorn.  We hear about it all the time, we even know someone that swears they have seen it, but they are very, very elusive.  While it is not impossible, most of the information that is available regarding loan modifications is disappointing.  Many consumers are tricked into believing that if they fill out enough paperwork or make enough trial modification payments that a permanent loan modification will be an option.  Unfortunately, this is almost never the case.  If you look closely at these loan modifications you will see that not only is there no such thing as principle reduction, the loan has in fact increased by thousands of dollars.  If you are considering a loan modification please contact us to discuss your situation.

Loan Modificatgion Company

The most dangerous option for consumers today is the loan modification. Many if not all of the companies calling themselves loan modification experts are nothing more than scam artists. Often, they do no more than fill out forms that you are more than capable of filling out yourself, and charge you an exorbitant fee to do so. They will also often make guarantees or claims to have special access to the banks or to government programs. They do not. At best, you will waste valuable time and money if you turn to any of these companies without first consulting an attorney. At worst, you may reduce your legitimate options by following their advice. (To learn more about Loan Modifications, click here.)

Short Sale

When your lender agrees to accept less than what you owe on your home, this is a short sale. While this may sound like a reasonable deal for you if you are having problems making your mortgage payments, it often is not. Often a short sale will not guarantee that your lender or investors will not later pursue you for the amount that is “short” or deficient. You could be sued yet again to pay the difference between what you originally owed and the amount the lender received from the sale. To make matters worse, you may not know what the lender is willing to do until you get to the closing table. Or they may avoid your questions entirely, or give you unclear, wishy-washy answers to get you to sign the contract. You should never agree to a short sale unless you fully understand all of the provisions of the contract and what liability you may have after the sale is complete.

However, there may be times when a Short Sale is appropriate for you. To learn more about the possible advantages of a Short Sale please click here.

Pay to Catch Up or Redeem 

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Do Nothing As simple as that sounds, there are people that choose to do nothing and do not suffer any additional consequenses.  WHile this is a very rare occurence we realize that you may fall into this category and can explain what you should expect from the process and your rights going forward.  However,

Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure: 

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