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Florida

FL Florida State Foreclosure Process Overview

TYPE OF DOCUMENT: Mortgage
TYPES OF FORECLOSURE:
  • Judicial Foreclosure only: From personal experience, we know that lawyers are very involved in the real estate process. A lender has to go through the court to foreclose on a property in Florida. The borrower is sued by the lender. The borrower has the right to defend themselves in court, while the lender will attempt to prove the borrowers are in default. Once the lender prevails, the court will order the property sold. The entire process from the time you are served is usually about 90 days.
  • Deficiency Judgments: The lender may pursue the borrower for up to four years to collect a deficiency judgment.
  • Redemption:  Once a sale occurs at the court house step and the court confirms the sale (usually a few days) there is no right of redemption.
  • Florida carries out foreclosures through court proceedings. The foreclosure process in Florida takes about five months.

    Pre-foreclosure Period

    A foreclosure in Florida begins when a lender files court action and records a notice of a pending lawsuit (Lis Pendens) against the borrower. The lender notifies the borrower and any other affected parties in person or in some cases by mail or publication. If the borrower does not respond to the court action within a specified amount of time, the county clerk can find the borrower in default and the lender can ask the court to make a final ruling. If the court rules against the borrower, the ruling will include the total amount owed to the lender and the foreclosure sale date.

    The lender is not required by state law to notify the borrower before initiating the foreclosure process, but individual mortgages or deeds of trust might call for this. The borrower can stop the foreclosure up until the date of the sale by paying the total amount owed to the lender.

    Notice of Sale / Auction

    The sale date is typically 20-35 days after the court ruling, but this may vary depending on the individual court. The clerk of court issues a notice of sale containing the location, date, and time of the sale.  The notice is published once a week for two weeks, with the second notice appearing at least five days before the sale.

    The clerk usually oversees the sale, which ordinarily occurs at the county courthouse at 11:00 a.m. on the sale date. The winning bidder must provide a 5 percent deposit and pay the remaining balance by the end of the day or a new sale is scheduled a minimum of 20 days later. After a successful sale, the clerk gives a certificate of sale to the winning bidder

    Within 10 days of the sale, the clerk transfers ownership to the winning bidder if no one disputes the sale.  In most instances, a borrower has no right of redemption after the certificate of sale is issued.