Foreclosure Defense and Loan Modification Blog

Amerihope Alliance Legal Services recently helped a client get $12,842.42 in surplus funds after his property was sold in a foreclosure auction. To protect his privacy I'll call this client Mr. Sebben.

Mr. Sebben's mortgage problems came about because he wasn't able to sell his Broward County, Florida home before moving out of state for work. Unable to pay for housing in two states, he stopped paying the mortgage on his vacant Florida home and his lender, Suntrust, started foreclosure on it.

Mr. Sebben realized that he needed professional help, and so he retained our firm in 2016 to help him stay a bit longer in the property and deal with the foreclosure case.

Many homeowners haven't paid their mortgage in many months or even years. They fight foreclosure and look for a way to keep their home. After a lot of work, some get approved for a loan modification which returns their loan to normal. Foreclosure disaster averted. Hooray!

But there's one minor problem with getting your loan back to normal: you have to actually start paying a mortgage again. What the heck?

I know, bills are terrible, but getting a free house is not a realistic possibility. Keeping your home after falling behind on payments by getting a loan modification is the best result, and one that millions of homeowners in recent years wanted to achieve and couldn't. (Seven million Americans have been in foreclosure since the recession began.)

Turn your television to a random basic cable channel and it probably won't be long before a reality show about house flipping comes on. There's Flip This House on A&E, Flip That House on Discovery, Flip or Flop on HGTV, Flip Men on Spike, Flipping Out on Bravo, and many, many others.

Even celebrities are in on the house flipping reality show craze. Snooki from Jersey Shore has a show on FYI called Nicole & Jionni's Shore Flip. And Vanilla Ice has The Vanilla Ice Project on DIY Network.

Yes, it is too late to save your home when you've received a writ of possession. To learn why, let's look at what it is.

A writ of possession is a court order that the sheriff will place on your door notifying you that you have to get yourself, your family, and all of your belongings out of your home after it is sold at a foreclosure auction or repossessed by the bank. The sheriff will come back 24/48/72 hours after posting the writ of possession to execute the writ, which is code for kicking you out.

It doesn't matter if you have nowhere else to go. At this point it's too late to do much.

“Abandon ship!”

That's the thought some homeowners have when they miss a few mortgage payments and realize they will not be able to keep their home. If the ship's going down, it's better to get off sooner rather than later, they reason.

Just because you can't afford your mortgage payment doesn't mean you need to leave your home right away. You have the right to stay in your home until the foreclosure process is finished, which can take months or years.

A little knowledge of the process can help you to stay in your home as long as possible without making mortgage payments and land on your feet if and when you do leave.

If you're in foreclosure and have decided that you cannot or do not want to keep your home, you may be wondering if you could get a “cash for keys” agreement. Cash for keys, sometimes called a "move out incentive", may sound like something you've heard about in hip hop music, but in this case it has nothing to do with kilos of illegal drugs. It's an agreement between you and your lender to hand over the keys to, and move out of your property in exchange for money. Getting paid cash money is always a seductive option, but you should take a close look at what you give up in exchange for that money before signing an agreement.

Entertainment is not just something that distracts us from the realities of our mundane lives with science fiction stories involving space, the distant future, aliens, and supernatural forces. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but some entertainment is grounded in the specific realities and challenges people live with and fight against in contemporary society. One such work is a web series called Lien On Me.

If you're having doubts about your ability to pay your mortgage or come to any resolution with your lender that allows you to keep your home, you may be wondering what your options are for exiting your home, and what responsibilities are associated with each choice. Whether ownership of your home is transferred through a short sale, deed in lieu of foreclosure agreement, or foreclosure sale, one of the most important things to be aware of is that you may be responsible for a deficiency. But, with a little bit of help and some planning, you may be able to get a deficiency judgment waiver that allows you to walk away from your home without owing any money.

Believe it or not, monsters like vampires and zombies do exist. They're not under your bed, but they might be in your neighborhood right now. Fortunately, they're not the kind that want to drink your blood or eat your brains, but you should still be aware of their existence.

Losing your home is a stressful process to endure, but it doesn't mean you have to give up on your goal of owning a home forever. But many homeowners are unsure if they will be able to get a mortgage after foreclosure.

Yes, you can buy a home after going through foreclosure, but you may need to wait several years or more after your foreclosure is completed, and you may be charged a higher interest rate and need a larger down payment to do it.