How To Fight the Foreclosure Legal Process in Florida

If you reside in Florida and are facing the possibility of having your home repossessed, you are probably trying to find out as much about it as you can. Foreclosures are processed out through local court proceedings. The entire process starts when you fall at least thirty days behind on your mortgage payments, though you can usually go at least ninety days or longer without the courts becoming involved.

The lender of your mortgage initially files a notice with the courts. If you are under the impression your lender may have done so, you will know for sure when you receive a letter in the mail or delivered by a local sheriff's deputy. Do not ignore this important warning as if it were junk mail or simply a threat against your home that you can not respond to. You must respond to it within the period of time indicated on the notice.

If you fail to respond to your foreclosure notice in the given time allotment, the court will rule against you and award the bank a default judgment. This means the court can assign a sale of your home to justify the judgment, which includes the total amount still owed to the mortgage holder in principal, interest, fees, and court costs. Under Florida foreclosure law, you can still save your home at this stage all the way up to the scheduled date for the sale of the home by getting enough funds to repay the lender everything you owe.

To give you an idea of how much time you have to get the necessary funds to pay your financial institution back, the scheduled date for the sale of a foreclosed home is usually between 20 and 35 days following the court's decision. The originally set date is always subject to modification based on the court's calendar, locality and conflicting schedule times of the auction itself. Borrowers and banks can also work together to postpone a sheriff sale if there is a possibility of another solution solving the problem.

Notices are kept up-to-date weekly for at least two weeks and the official date and time is announced five days before the auction. This way, even though times and dates may change during the proceedings, you have a clear knowledge of the exact date five days in advance. This is an especially important deadline to keep in mind when dealing with a lender for a loan modification, short sale, or other alternative to foreclosure.

If this is the stage you are at right now with your Florida foreclosure, it is not too late! You can still get your property back by making your account current once again. Remember, this will probably include the payment of late fees and other charges your account may have built up in the time you were behind in your payments. You may be able to pay up the account by borrowing money from friends and family, cashing in assets, refinancing, or even just selling the house.

No matter where you are in the legal process of losing your property, you probably still have choices. As long as ownership of the home has not been transferred, there may be solutions available. You can learn exactly how to go about halting foreclosure even in these late stages by meeting with a financial and foreclosure expert. Be sure to choose a trusted source.