Top Orlando Realtors Podcast Episode:004
Hello and Welcome to the show If, you’ve been here before, we are happy to have you back.
Anyone can submit a question or suggest a topic for the show, just go to https://orlandorealtyconsultants.com/blog/ and fill out the contact form.
I’m your host John Conde / Orlando Realtor and I hope everyone is still hanging in there with their New Year’s resolutions. I heard somewhere that most people don’t make it through January without breaking that resolution so if you’re still in the game then you’re doing better than most, so keep it up!
We currently have a client in the Dr. Phillips area that has a pretty unique situation going on.
His name is Dave and he is allowing me to talk about his case on the show as long as I don’t mention his last name. So Thank you for that Dave.
To make a long story short, Dave had a great job, got laid off, fell behind on his payments, and is now facing Orlando foreclosure. Dave wants to know if the bank can come after his other assets after the foreclosure sale of his house.
He doesn’t have much money in the bank, so he’s not worried about that. What he does have, is every toy that a man could want. He has a ski boat, motorcycles, cars, RV, you name it..he’s got it, and everything is paid for.
Now, the best thing to do is stop Orlando foreclosure before it starts. Dave waited longer than he should have and only decided to take action after the lender had set a foreclosure date.
The sooner you take action, the better chance you have of stopping that foreclosure.
Unfortunately, in this case, foreclosure was imminent. And being that he has well over $100,000 in assets, he has a legitimate concern because these assets or objects, are all he has left and he needs to sell them so that he could have some money to live.
Unfortunately, here in Florida, the lender can absolutely come after your other assets.
This usually happens when the bank takes a huge loss at the auction, especially if it’s a large loan.
And unsecured assets aren’t the only thing that people need to worry about, lenders can also garnish your salary and personal bank accounts.
You see, problems that can occur from a foreclosure sale don’t happen until after the sale has gone through. Here in Florida, lenders can solicit the court for a “deficiency judgment” so they can try and collect the rest of the money that’s owed to them. Once they have a deficiency judgment in their possession, banks can go after any of your personal assets like a car or a boat.
The good news is that Florida lenders don’t usually go after someone’s assets following a foreclosure sale. Especially if they don’t see much to tap into. Collecting judgments takes a lot of time and can cost the bank a lot of money.
Banks tend to pay more attention to jumbo loans because the larger the loan the bigger the loss.
In these cases, the lenders will dig deeper checking your bank accounts…. especially if the accounts are with the same bank as the mortgage. And Depending on the situation, banks can try to freeze or garnish these accounts.
There is another risk for smaller loan holders that can also occur. Most of the time, banks end up selling off these smaller judgments to investors or collection agencies for pennies on the dollar.
These agencies then dedicate themselves to hounding people any way they can for a settlement on the money that’s owed. And,..since judgments are valid for up to twenty years, it gives them more than enough time to come after the borrower for the balance due.
The best way to avoid any of these things is for people to deal with their mortgage problems head-on. In Dave’s case, he waited too long to take action and he’s now out of options. If you know that you’re gonna fall behind on your mortgage, take action.
If you want out, do a short sale! If you want to keep your house, try a loan modification or bankruptcy. Burying your head in the sand and ignoring the problem is the absolute worst thing that you can do. You give up all your control to the bank. and It’s like having a financial ticking time bomb on your hands.
So remember, if you’re behind on your loan, take action! That’s it for today, please keep those questions coming so we can talk about it on the show. See you next time!
