Short Sale in Lehigh Acres, S FL

[Becky123]

I purchased an investment property in Lehigh Acres, Fort Myers, FL in August 2006. The purchase price was $225K. Mortgage is with Century Bank, FL

My primary home is 150 miles away from this property. Unfortunately for the last 1.5 years I am unable to rent this home or the renters had to be evicted because they do not want to pay the rent. Due to a lot of reasons with my parents health I am unable to keep this property.
Now I want to see if I can sell the home with a short sale. I have got a buyer for $60,000 only ( thats how much the house appraised for). I sent the short sale documents to the bank in April 2009. My short sale was immediately approved but the bank asked me to the pay the deficiency amount which is coming up to $160,000. They have asked me to take a second mortgage on my primary home and pay the remaining amount.
Obviously this is not agreeable to me as I would be paying for a property I do not even own!

Timeline:
April 2009: Started Short sale proceedings and stopped paying mortgage on the property
Aug 2009: Bank appointed a loss mitigation team to look into my case

I am still negotiating with the bank to reduce the deficiency amount but they do not want to budge even for a dollar! I do have a good job and make decent money which probably has made the bank very merciless.

What are my options?
Thanks in advance!

[Moe Bedard]

Welcome to the forum Becky!

I am sorry to hear about your plight here with this bank. It is obvious that they have identified your account has a "collectible" account due to the fact that they feel you have enough equity AKA assets in your primary home to recoup their losses.

This leaves you in a precarious position and one where I highly suggest you speak with a few attorneys to see what option you have right away. You need to protect your assets ASAP. A trust, not sure???

[heidi79]

for sure, talk to an attorney right away so you can protect your own home, you shouldn't have to mortgage yourself further over this investment property, there should be a way for you to have to pay none of this defficiency.

[Becky123]

Thanks a lot for your responses...

I am looking to move to another state in the near future..... What if I sell my primary home in the midst of the negotiations?...

I will definitely not be making any profit on my primary home
either....so how would that play into this situation?

Thank you

[HopingtoFind]

Originally Posted by Becky123

Thanks a lot for your responses...

I am looking to move to another state in the near future..... What if I sell my primary home in the midst of the negotiations?...

I will definitely not be making any profit on my primary home
either....so how would that play into this situation?

Thank you

I really do think... as Moe previously stated you need to consult with an attorney specilizing in Asset Protection. Even if you sell you have to put your money somewhere. Your lender has figured out that you're collectible and that is why they are playing hardball.

[TrappedFL]

I agree about consulting an asset protection attorney ASAP.

Here in Florida, the banks play hardball because they are able to sue for a deficiency judgment.

Assuming that your primary home is here in Florida as well - do you have equity? It is important to remember that moving out of state and surrendering your homestead protection in Florida may open you up to further liability. Definitely seek legal advice on this.

[Enough Already]

Becky,
I just saw your thread. Please do not agree to a huge deficiency settlement. If you have another FL home that you own, and are also living in, that home would be fully protected by FL Homestead law, which gives you just about unlimited protection. There's no paperwork you have to file or anything you have to do to get that protection as long as you're living in the home (and you own it) you're covered. The bank cannot file a lien on your homesteaded property, or touch it in any way. You could pour all of your money into the mortgage on your primary residence, property improvements etc, and the bank can't do anything. They also cannot garnish wages of the head of household.

I would strongly recommend you consult with a FL asset protection attorney. If you do a simple Google search for: FL Asset Protection, there is one attorney in particular Jonathan Alper who's blog will come up. We read a lot of his blog posts which were very informative. We also paid for a consultation which was a very good investment. After talking with him we understood our rights, and options. It was well worth the fee.

We are in the process of a short sale, and we are willing to agree to a reasonable deficiency because we want to be free to move out of state. But if the bank won't play fair we most likely will let it foreclose, and then move into our other FL property to take full advantage of the homestead protection.

I hope this post makes sense (no time to proof read this morning).

Good luck! Please keep us posted.