Disclaimer: These results should not be taken as a guarantee, as each case is unique. We have helped over 7,000 homeowners, here is one of their stories.
In January of 2016 we were hired by a Florida homeowner to help him avoid becoming a former homeowner. Let's call him Mr. Cohen to protect his privacy. Mr. Cohen definitely needed the help of an experienced foreclosure defense attorney. After falling behind on his mortgage his home was scheduled to be sold at a foreclosure auction on April 13th, so we immediately got to work to stop the sale and find a permanent solution.
Applying For a Loan Modification
We rushed to submit a Request for Modification Assistance (RMA) to Rushmore Servicing, Mr. Cohen's loan servicer, that would permanently modify his mortgage loan and return it to normal servicing if accepted.
Canceling the Foreclosure Sale
As the April sale date approached the RMA had not been reviewed by the bank, so we filed a motion with the court to cancel the foreclosure sale. The motion was granted and the April sale date was canceled and rescheduled for June 14.
Trial Loan Modification Approved
Then Rushmore approved the RMA and offered Mr. Cohen a trial modification agreement, which he signed in early June, days before his scheduled foreclosure sale. He even made a one-time $3,400 good faith down payment to demonstrate his commitment. After that, you'd think it would be time to cancel that foreclosure sale, right? Not. So. Fast.
Mistakes Cause Sale Date
After Mr. Cohen signed his trial modification agreement and paid his good faith down payment the bank attempted to cancel the upcoming foreclosure sale, but their attorney didn't get the permission of Mr. Cohen's homeowner's association (HOA) to do so. The court saw this and, believing the HOA's consent was necessary, denied the motion to cancel the sale.
Now our client, who had been on the verge of putting all of this behind him and moving on with life, was about to lose his home at a foreclosure auction because of a simple oversight that wasn't even his fault.
If Mr. Cohen had been trying to resolve his situation on his own, he could have lost his home. But he had us, and we knew exactly what needed to be done, so we sprang into action. Unfortunately, time to resolve the situation was very limited and the fight continued on the day of the sale.
Emergency Motion to Cancel Sale Succeeds
It was a mad rush to stop the sale at the eleventh hour. We needed to speak to the bank's attorney, but she was gone. We were able to reach a representative of Mr. Cohen's homeowner's association to get their consent to cancel the sale and we filed a stipulated emergency motion to cancel foreclosure sale with the court. The court granted our emergency motion and the sale was canceled. Success!
It's unfortunate that the bank's and court's mistakes led to the foreclosure sale almost going through. But because Mr. Cohen had us as his attorney, the best outcome was achieved. If he hadn't had an experienced and dedicated law firm on his side, his home could have been sold at foreclosure auction, and it would have been a nightmare to try to get it back.
Fortunately that didn't happen. The foreclosure sale was canceled and another one was not rescheduled. All Mr. Cohen has to do now is make his trial payments on time and he'll be offered a permanent loan modification.
With this case everything came down to the last minute when it really shouldn't have. But our firm had the knowledge and resources required to meet the challenge. Our senior paralegal even missed an important event with his child because he was working to stop this sale past normal business hours. After all we were able to do for him, Mr. Cohen is very satisfied with the services we provided and looks forward to putting his mortgage problems behind him.
