Sarasota Foreclosure Defense Lawyer

Fight Wrongful Foreclosure in Florida with Diligent, Knowledgeable Sarasota Foreclosure Defense Attorneys

Your home likely represents your most valuable and precious asset, and also the one that is most expensive to hold onto. Lenders may be quick to foreclose on a property when they believe the borrower has defaulted on payments, but there are many ways they may have made a mistake about the facts or not followed the proper procedures required by law. At Suncoast Civil Law, our attorneys work hard to investigate the facts and provide you with all available defenses to help you stay in your home. When quitting the home is your best or only option, we can work with the lender to allow you to exit without having to go through the foreclosure process, keeping your credit intact and keeping you from owing more on the mortgage than is absolutely necessary. Read on to learn more about how our Sarasota foreclosure defense lawyers can help you deal effectively with notices of default or foreclosure.

Wrongful Foreclosure Litigation

Home foreclosures in Florida must go through a judicial process, and you are entitled to be represented by an attorney in court and to present any defenses you may have to show that the foreclosure should not go forward. For instance, the bank may have violated the law when offering the mortgage in the first place, through actions such as fraud or predatory lending. If you were not properly told about the true cost of your loan, or if you were placed into a mortgage that you were not qualified for, then you may have a defense against the foreclosure action. There are also many ways the bank may be in error regarding your mortgage that leads to a foreclosure being wrongfully initiated. Our Sarasota foreclosure defense lawyers look closely at the situation to determine whether an attempted foreclosure is wrongful, and we bring all available defenses to bear to help you keep your home.

Foreclosure Avoidance Strategies

There may be many options to avoid foreclosure and achieve an acceptable result, but it is hard to explore these opportunities when you are facing an imminent foreclosure and eviction. If you are in default but foreclosure proceedings have not yet begun, or even if we are in the midst of defending you against a foreclosure action in court, our attorneys can still work with the lender to negotiate an acceptable alternative to litigation and foreclosure. These options may include:

Loan Modification – Depending upon your debt-to-income ratio, the market value of your home compared to your mortgage, and other factors, it may be possible to modify your mortgage, reducing the principal and monthly payments to an amount that you can comfortably meet, so that you can stay in your home and keep current on your payments. Negotiating a loan modification requires persistence and the help of knowledgeable, experienced attorneys who can avoid common pitfalls and make sure the loan modification is binding and works for you.

Short Sale – When you owe more on the mortgage than the home is worth, it might not make sense to keep the home, but letting it go through foreclosure will hurt your credit and have other negative consequences. An alternative is to find a buyer for the home and negotiate with your lender to accept the purchase price as payment in full for what you owe on the mortgage, even if the purchase price is less than you owe. Banks may be willing to do this rather than go through the time, expense and trouble of a foreclosure, only to be stuck with a property that they cannot sell to recoup their losses. Make sure you retain a qualified attorney to represent you and make sure that you are not held liable for any deficiency – the difference between the purchase price and the amount you owe on the mortgage.

Short Payoff – Even though you may be current on your payments, you may still be stuck owing more on your mortgage than your home is worth. Getting out of an underwater mortgage is not easy, but it is possible to negotiate with the lender to accept a lesser amount to satisfy the mortgage. Our attorneys know how to deal with lenders in short payoff negotiations, as well as how to advise you whether a short payoff is in your best interests or not.

Don’t Lose Your Home without a Fight. Let Our Sarasota Foreclosure Defense Lawyers Stand Up for You.

If you are in default on your mortgage, facing foreclosure or having difficulty keeping up with expensive payments on a home that is worth less than what you paid for it, contact Suncoast Civil Law at 941-366-1800 for a free consultation on how to fight a foreclosure, stay in your home, or find a solution that works for you.