Video Summary

If my home is in foreclosure, can I buy another house?

The answer to that question is:  You certainly can.  The only impediment you may have is if you go to a federally insured lending institution and apply for a loan.  If your home is foreclosed, then after the foreclosure you may be prevented – or you won’t be able to borrow money from a federally insured financial institution for a period of four years.

During the foreclosure action or even after the foreclosure actions, you can buy a home any time you want to.  You can of course pay for it in cash, if you have the cash, and then move into the home and it’s protected as far as your homestead is concerned.  You can see about owner financing to give some money down and have the owner carry the mortgage, or any other way that you can find to purchase a house.

So there’s no prohibition about buying a house.  Some people find themselves with a mortgage that far exceeds the market value of the property.  They have good credit and decide that they’re going to give up on that property.  They have money, they have credit, and they go out and buy another house and finance that, and then short sell or let the original home that is underwater go.  This is called “buy and dump,” and basically there is no problem in buying.  And it’s something that does happen. 

So yes, you can buy a house as long as you can figure out how to pay for it, either through cash or owner financing.

If you’d like to discuss this with me, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.

Video Summary

If my home is in foreclosure, can the lender lock me out of my home?

The answer to that question is:  No.  Once they file the mortgage foreclosure action, they have to conclude it and get what they call a “certificate of title” showing that they’re the owner before they’re entitled to possession.  Even after getting the certificate of title, they must apply to the court for what they call a “writ of possession” before they are entitled to have you removed from the property and take possession of the property.

If the property is abandoned – meaning that there’s no one living there – the lender does have a right under most mortgages to secure the property.  And they hire contractors to go out and change the locks and to maintain the property, cut the grass and basically make the property look like it’s not abandoned. 

We’ve seen any number of abuses and very aggressive contractors going out and changing locks even though someone may be maintaining the property.  However, if you’re living there, I can assure you that they will not come on the property to change the lock.  Or if they do, simply call the police, 911, and have them arrested for breaking and entering if they attempt to change the locks on your house.

If you go away on vacation and come back and see they’ve changed the locks, all you have to do is break in and take their locks off because it’s still your property.  So you’re not divested of that property until such time as the mortgage foreclosure has been completed.  They get a certificate of title and then they have the occupant – whether it be a tenant or you if you’re living there – obtain a writ of possession.  If you have tenants there, the tenants have the right to remain in the property for the balance of their term under a federal law that allows tenants to remain in possession even after the mortgage foreclosure. 

If you have any questions about your mortgage foreclosure or would like representation, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.

Video Summary

If my home is in foreclosure, can the bank take money from my bank account? 

Well, the bank cannot, unless you bank with the same lending institution where you have your mortgage.  So if you have a bank account with Bank of America, and you also have your mortgage or line of credit with Bank of America and you go in default, they may exercise the right of offset to take money out of your account.

If, however, you have your mortgage with Bank of America, and you have your bank account with any other financial institution, Bank of America has no right to attach any of your assets or your bank account whenever you go into foreclosure.

A foreclosure action is one wherein the lender is taking back their collateral, which is called a foreclosure.  They are not suing for a money judgment. 

In order for them to obtain a money judgment, they must file a supplemental proceeding after the foreclosure action.  That’s called a “deficiency judgment action.”  And then, if they do obtain a deficiency judgment, they’re then in position to garnish your bank account, or take your bank account or any other assets other than your home or other assets that you may own as husband and wife.

So the answer to the question is:  No, the bank cannot take your money or your assets just because they file a mortgage foreclosure action unless you’re banking with them and they may have some right of offset.

If you’d like to talk to me or set up an appointment to discuss foreclosure action, please call me at (727) 847-2288, and I look forward to seeing you.

Video Summary

If I short-sell my home, can I buy another home?

The answer is:  Yes.  After you short sell a house, you will not be able to obtain financing from a federally insured lending institution for at least a period of two years.  Some institutions may stretch it out as far as three or four years, but certainly there will be a period of two years.

However, you can pay cash to buy other property.  Or if you can get owner financing, you can owner-finance it, or borrow money from investors or whomever – as long as they’re not a federally insured lending institution and finance other property.

Sometimes we find people are underwater.  “Underwater” is a slang term for value being substantially less than what is owed.  They have good credit and so they go about purchasing another house, moving into the house, and then they short sell the home that they’re is underwater.  That’s called a “buy and dump” and that happens fairly frequently.  And there are a lot of bargains out there to be had by buyers at this time.

So if you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.  Thank you.

Video Summary

What is the Save Our Homes Amendment?  It is an amendment to the Florida Constitution that caps the annual increase in the assessed value of your home.  Whenever you apply for homestead exemption, you receive the Save Our Homes assessment.  This keeps your tax bill from rising, as a result of the assessment, by no more than three percent in any particular year.  Your assessment is capped at the cost of living increase or three percent, whichever is less.  These past few years it’s been very, very small.  (This amendment has been in effect, I think, since 1996 or ’98.)  But anytime that you apply for a homestead exemption, you’re entitled to the Save Our Homes Amendment which locks in your assessed valuation for the year in which you apply for homestead exemption.

They’ve added a feature to this amendment which allows you to transfer your exemption if you buy another home in Florida- that’s called portability.  You have to buy a home within two years in order to be able to transfer your Save Our Homes Amendment valuation to your new property. (There’s a formula that is pro rata if you’re upsizing or downsizing on how they calculate the benefits you have.)  If you’ve been a resident of Florida for some time, you’re able to transfer it if you buy another property here in Florida and sell your old property.  You do have to notify the property appraiser that you do wish to use portability in transferring your Save Our Homes assessment. 

So it caps your assessment and was passed back in the ‘90’s whenever we had fast depreciation, particularly in waterfront property.  People who were on fixed income were getting priced out of their homes because they couldn’t afford to pay the taxes.  So, they passed this amendment in order to keep people in their homes and not have the tax bill go so high that they couldn’t afford to stay in their homes.  The longer you stay in your home, the better you’ll like it.  Of course, with the recent decline in property values, the value of Save Our Homes has diminished substantially, but it’s always a nice in a depreciated market.  If you buy now, you’ll love it if you stay in the same house, hopefully in about five or six years when the prices take off again. 

So if you have any questions about the Save Our Homes Amendment, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.