Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Losing our house

First, no - Obama did not say that nobody was going to lose their homes. Obama said that the Federal Government was putting into place certain programs that would help many homeowners, but not all.

Let me clarify what happened. First, your mortgage consists of several different documents. You signed a promissory note agreeing to repay your lender "X" amount of money. You also signed a "Deed of Trust." That document is recorded against your home, and is a lien for what you owe. The Deed of Trust involves 3 parties. You are the Trustor, your lender is the Beneficiary, and there is Trustee.

The lender did not quite tell the truth when they say that they had nothing to do with the foreclosure. The lender had to direct the Trustee to start foreclosure. You should have received several notices, though it�s not necessary that you ACTUALLY received them. First, you should have received (and recorded against your home) a Notice of Default. That gives you 90 days in which to bring the mortgage current. Second, you should have received (and recorded against your home) a Notice of Trustee's Sale. This is a 20 day notice, and sets a date when the Trustee will sell the home to satisfy the debt owed to the lender. Most of the time when homes go to foreclosure, the bank is the only bidder, and so the bank ends up with the property. In your case, however, it sounds like the Trustee sold it to an investor at the auction, and they are the ones now kicking you out.

Under California law, upon the foreclosure of your property (the Trustee's Sale), the purchaser at the sale must give you a 3 Day Notice to Quit the property before they can legally evict you. When that notice expires, the investor can sue you to evict you.

You need to review with an attorney if the foreclosure sale was properly conducted. If it was not properly noticed or wasn't done properly, you may have grounds to set it aside. Otherwise, you may have to start packing.

*Due to the limitations of the LawGuru Forums, The Gibbs Law Firm, APC's (the "Firm") participation in responding to questions posted herein does not constitute legal advice, nor legal representation of the person or entity posting a question. No Attorney/Client relationship is or shall be construed to be created hereby. The information provided is general and requires that the poster obtain specific legal advice from an attorney. The poster shall not rely upon the information provided herein as legal advice nor as the basis for making any decisions of legal consequence.

Re: Losing our house

The new owner would have to file eviction proceedings and get a court order to get you out, unless you work out a deal with them. An eviction on your record will not be helpful in trying to rent anywhere else, but then a foreclosure doesn't help either.

As Mr. Gibbs pointed out, Obama and his minions never said that no one would lose their houses, because they couldn't do so with a straight face. If you don't pay the mortgage, you lose the house. Huge numbers of people have lost their houses already, and I'm sorry to say that huge numbers more will lose them in this collapsing economy.

More importantly though, if you were the owner of the house and behind in mortgage payments, not a renter, how did the mortgage company / lender get a foreclosure without notice to you?? Just saying that doesn't make it true or provable. The lender was required to give the owner various legal notices over a period of time. If you are saying they didn't comply with those rules, and if they can't prove they did with their records, the foreclosure could be contested and set aside possibly. If serious about pursuing this, feel free to contact me.

Re: Losing our house

You should have received notice regarding this, at the very least a Notice of Default.

You will need to file an immediate restraiing order, but since the home was already sold, it may be too late, it all depends on what the trustee and finance company can produce.

(Somewaht) luckily for you, the "new owner" will have to evict you from the property through normal court proceedings.

If you believe that you were not provided proper notice, then you should certainly start the process with a qualified attorney.

If you would like to discuss this matter further in a more private forum, please feel free to contact me directly at the email address provided by LawGuru or through our firm�s website located at PasadenaEstatePlanning.com

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No attorney-client nor confidential relationship is created through this communication. You may not rely in any way on this communication, and nothing herein constitutes legal advice nor legal opinion. Your issue may be time-sensitive and may result in a loss of rights if you do not obtain an attorney immediately.