Foreclosure Defense Lawyers

Understanding Your Options

At Rosen & Rosen, we pride ourselves on a service first philosophy. We know that as long as we focus on providing outstanding legal representation and customer service, everything else will follow from there. In order to give outstanding service, we know we have to start by listening to our clients to fully understand their situation and their goals. After we have spent enough time gathering as much as we can from our clients, we then take the time to educate our clients on the law and how it applies to their individual circumstances. A substantial part of this process involves laying out options that our clients may have. Part of the way we know we are providing legal service that meets ours and our clients’ expectations is by helping them, with our legal guidance, to make fully informed decisions. Getting served with a foreclosure lawsuit is typically a frightening and unsettling experience; however, with Rosen & Rosen by your side, you’ll understand the law, the most relevant facts of your case and the legal options we can help you pursue.

On this page you’ll find a list of the most common options property owners are facing in today’s challenging times. Regardless of the option or options a client chooses we can be there to guide them and fight for them every step of the way.

1. Strategic Default – This option is widely used to describe people who, despite being current on their mortgage and having the ability to continue paying, decide for a variety of reasons to walk away from their property. Most often, the outstanding balance far exceeds the value of the property so owners make a conscious business decision to stop paying the mortgage and let the home go in to foreclosure. However, this can also apply to people who can’t keep up with the payments but decide they’d like to stay in their home for as long as possible, if not indefinitely under certain circumstances, without paying their mortgage. With our foreclosure defense team, we will explain the legal ramifications of a strategic default and help you slow down the foreclosure process substantially or possibly even find grounds to have your foreclosure suit dismissed based a number of the defenses in our arsenal.
2. Short Sale – With the help of an experienced attorney and negotiator, there are times a lender will agree to sell a property for the fair market value even if that value is less than the outstanding balance. Some of the issues we address for our clients as part of the short sale negotiation are asking for a waiver of a deficiency judgment, persuading the lender not to issue a 1099 for the amount of debt that was forborne, asking for favorable credit reporting information and having the lender execute a full a satisfaction and release of mortgage. Under the right circumstances, we can even work closely with Evan M. Rosen’s real estate brokerage, Evan M. Rosen Realty, Inc. to help you prepare the property for sale, list it, show it, find a buyer, and then help you find suitable new housing for rent or purchase. Also, thanks to the government’s Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternative (HAFA) program, short sales are far more standardized now than ever before and provide lender incentives and a $3,000 cash incentive to help the borrower with moving costs. We pride ourselves on not only knowing the law in Florida as it pertains to short sales and foreclosure defense but also the ins and outs of every detail of the HAFA program in order to help our clients in every possible way.
3. Deed-in-Lieu or “Cash for Keys” – A deed-in-lieu is an agreement between a borrower and lender to exchange the deed to the property for a satisfaction and release of mortgage. It avoids the cost, time, aggravation and uncertainty of a foreclosure so in certain circumstances is a viable option for all parties. Some banks even have “Cash-for-keys” programs that will give the borrower a cash incentive and/or help with moving expenses to walk away from the property. Part of the government’s HAFA program addresses deeds-in-lieu and provides lender and borrower incentives including a $3,000 moving allowance to the borrower who agrees to a deed-in-lieu transaction.
4. Loan Modification – In any loan, approaching the bank for a modification can be a very technical, exacting and at times very frustrating process for the average person. At Rosen & Rosen, we help streamline this process for you for any type of loan. For loans on a primary residence, we are fully versed on all aspects of the government’s Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) which we can use to help homeowner’s more easily obtain a loan modification.  This program requires interest rate reduction, loan term extension, and/or principal forbearance in certain circumstances to help reduce a borrower’s monthly housing payments down to 31% of their total monthly obligations.  HAMP, like HAFA above has certain restrictions and can be a complicated program utilizing net present value analysis and a “waterfall” test. However, at Rosen & Rosen we are extremely knowledgeable with every facet of this program and can use that knowledge to help you maximize your chances of a successful modification.
5. Bankruptcy – This legal proceeding can provide extremely powerful remedies when facing a foreclosure. First of all, just the filing of bankruptcy can temporarily stop any pending legal action you are facing, including a foreclosure.  Also, the defenses surrounding standing and securitization which are so often used in foreclosure defense seem to be taken that much more seriously in Bankruptcy court so that if we have good faith doubt as to who the owner of your mortgage and note really is, bankruptcy court can be a much more powerful venue to get those defenses ruled on in your favor. Furthermore, in bankruptcy you may be able to cancel all your debts, stop collection calls, and all while keeping most, if not all of your property. It has been described as the ability to reset your finances. However, the process and the law can be extremely complicated without the right legal help. Hiring qualified lawyers like those at Rosen & Rosen to represent you in your bankruptcy can help you maximize your ability to capitalize on every potential area for debt relief and asset protection available under the law.
6. Combination of options – It is very common, that while working out a short sale, deed-in-lieu, cash for keys, or loan modification with one branch of the bank, the other branch is attempting to move full steam ahead to foreclose on your property. Under this scenario and others, Rosen & Rosen can help you pursue multiple options simultaneously.

The above is just an overview to help understand the most common options for property owners facing tough decisions in today’s challenging market. For more details or if you have any questions, please feel free to call or contact us online today. If you are a property owner concerned about losing your property in foreclosure, we are here to serve you!

We are a debt relief agency.  In addition to other legal services, we help clients file for bankruptcy relief under the Bankruptcy Code.