Hello,
I have a question about a 2nd mortgage foreclosing in the state of Florida. This is a new mortgage, with only a couple payments being made by the buyers. They are behind on 1st and 2nd mortgage by more than 2 months. I live several states away and everything was done through a Florida attorney by fax and phone calls and never met the attorney face to face and now I am finding out a lot of things were “hidden” from me by the attorney including a bad credit history by the buyer that was never disclosed. Is there anything that can be done?
The 1st mortgage holder called me and told me he was going to foreclose on the 1st mortgage and I would lose everything which includes the property that I sold and the mortgage that I hold.
The property is worth about 7000.00 more than the 2 mortgages combined would come out to.
I would like to know how can I fight this. 1st mortgage holder stated that I could buy his 1st mortgage out in full and pay his attorney fees.
What is legal and how can I get what I am owed? I do not want the property back but would like to have at least some of my money that the debtors owe to me from the mortgage.
This is the 1st and last time that I will ever hold a 2nd mortgage. Never knew the risks involved, nothing was disclosed to me when I sold it and took on the 2nd mortgage.
Thank you for your answers in advance.
I agree with the above post you need to go back to the lawyer who handled your sale; but in general obtain a lawyer, it seems by your post your where not properly explained the potential liabilities of holding a second note
That said, if the senior note i.e. the first lender is seeking to foreclose on the property, your options to protect your interest in the property is limited to buying the first note basically, since you are second in line so to speak
September 2nd, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Your first call should be to the attorney who represented you in this sale. Oh, you didn’t hire one? Maybe you should now.
You have a couple of choices. First, if you can find a buyer for the property at more than the amount owing on the first mortgage. You will get the residual beyond what is needed to pay closing costs up to the amount of your mortgage. You’ll have to hurry to pull it off but the person who bought from you should be willing to cooperate.
Second option is to pay off the 1st mortgage holder as was proposed and take over the property. Then you can resell it.
Not much fun, is it? I don’t mind holding first mortgages but I shy away from seconds.
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September 2nd, 2008 at 6:13 pm
In order to save the property, you would have to buy out the first mortgage. The amount is probably negotiable since the foreclosing party will incur very legal bills for the foreclosure and the Florida housing market simply stinks right now.
Apart from that, you might have a malpractice action against the attorney but you would have to consult with a malpractice attorney to see if that’s the case.
You placed yourself in an incredibly bad position and you may be out in the cold. I have NEVER allowed a client to take back a mortgage (even in the first position) - NEVER.
References :
20+ years practicing law
September 2nd, 2008 at 6:15 pm
I have a friend who was trying to get property sold in tx. She had many of the same problems. Not getting the right information, people with information not calling back etc. If you can afford it, it is best to go there and meet a good real estate lawyer. Get one that will go after the people that hid information from you. Unfortunately you got stuck in the housing crunch. You will probably find that these people should have never gotten the first mortgage let alone the second. They were under water before they bought your property. Its called sub-mortgage lending and means giving someone the chance to bury themselves deeper in dept than they already were. I’m truly sorry for your loss. At some point you may want to dump the whole thing and count it as a lesson learned. Green is a good color.
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September 2nd, 2008 at 6:21 pm
I agree with the above post you need to go back to the lawyer who handled your sale; but in general obtain a lawyer, it seems by your post your where not properly explained the potential liabilities of holding a second note
That said, if the senior note i.e. the first lender is seeking to foreclose on the property, your options to protect your interest in the property is limited to buying the first note basically, since you are second in line so to speak
References :