Deficiency judgment in Florida

Christina,

Generally speaking, a lender can lien any property or assets of a defendant with a judgment which can include real estate and bank accounts. A lot of borrowers will file bankruptcy after a foreclosure to avoid the deficiency judgment. Otherwise, the judgment will continue to "haunt" them.

If you pull up the Florida Senate site, you can read specific language related to deficiency judgments.

I have not heard of any cases of lenders enforcing these judgments. However, I would not be surprised if after this subprime mess is behind us, lenders backtrack to try to recoup some of their losses.

Hope this was helpful.

Andre

Thanks Andre,

I had read the statutes on deficiency judgments but it wasn't specific about their primary residence. I didn't know if they could lien the "primary residence" since it is a homestead state. I called and attorney and posted here at the same time just in case...

I hear that all the time...people are running around saying "oh, lenders don't enforce deficiency judgments" but I totally agree with you. I tell all of my clients they are going to hear this but they CANNOT count on this or make their decisions with this in mind. I think we are going to see either banks enforcing them or selling them to collection companies who enforce them. There are billions of dollars worth!!!

Christina Henley said,

...people are running around saying "oh, lenders don't enforce deficiency judgments" but I totally agree with you. I tell all of my clients they are going to hear this but they CANNOT count on this ....

.....selling them to collection companies who enforce them. There are billions of dollars worth!!!

There are a segment of investors that investment in judgments that don't get collected and agressively go after the judgment. They attach bank accounts, garnish wages, attach property, etc. Pretty hardcore collection efforts. I invested som money a couple of years ago to buy a bunch of uncollected debts from a doctor's office. The return was better than any stocks that I have had and better than my real estate investments! The paper was purchased for 8% of face (of the debt collected) and the collections was in the low 30% range. About a 23% return over 6 months. That's why the big collection firms buy the paper themselves and do the collections.

Thanks, Paul...kinda figured as much. Great information...i guess if they can get a few billion someone just might pick these up and enforce them, ey? I hate when I hear people telling this!!! Maybe if some of them read this they will stop. :-)

Paul Bowling wrote on 8/26/08: There are a segment of investors that invest in judgments that don't get collected and agressively go after the judgment. I invested som money a couple of years ago to buy a bunch of uncollected debts The return was better than any stocks that I have had and better than my real estate investments! About a 23% return over 6 months.

My question: Did you factor in the time you spent on this? If you charged off your hours at your usual (hoped for) rate, how much did you really make? I have found that, looked at in this light, that investment rates of return often don't look quite so good. Would you work for someone else at that rate of pay? And how about the risk you took -- did you factor in a return to compensate for that?