Fort Walton Beach, FL · Member since 2016 · 26 posts · 5 votes
Hi, I have a friend who has a family who is about to lose their home. And I'm doing my best to help her out, she is disabled and is in the process of going through a bad divorce.
She is doing everything she can to save the house, she owes the bank $5000 due next month, which I can't see her making it.
Her husband who has moved out has trashed the whole house before he left, he has broken all the windows and punched holes in the walls because of the kind of person he is.
To make a long story short, I am trying to help her sell the house for whatever she owes the bank, maybe even with some moving money to help her get a new house. However, her husbands name is still on the papers. Is there anyway to sell the home without his signature? Can the papers be redone?
I'm not looking to make a profit on this, i'm trying to help someone in need.
Real Estate Professional · West Palm Beach, FL · Member since 2012 · 23k+ posts · 13k+ votes
9y
No, if the husband is on title he will have to sign the contract, and the closing documents, unless he just Quit Claims his interest to the wife, by way of a Quit Claim Deed. There may also be other judgments/liens against the property.
Investor · Miami Beach, FL · Member since 2016 · 486 posts · 216 votes
9y
Chad, you need to get more information regarding what stages of loan default is she. If $5,000 is due next month: is it what she is behind on or this is the final judgement amount? At what stage of foreclosure is she? If they just sent her a demand notice then she has time however if the lender already obtained final judgement then she doesn't have a lot of time. Foreclosure process takes time and there are plenty of ways to delay the process until she figures out what to do.
Assuming, she is in Florida and is in the early stages of default, she needs to reach out to the lender and explain her difficulty. No lender wants to foreclose and if they see good faith to make it good on payments (maybe no right away but at a later time). They will work with the borrower. Even though she is not on title, she is owner's wife and they should be able to talk to her. Make sure she has husband's basic info, like social security number when she calls.
My first approach will be to ask if she can make just the monthly payments for now and have lender wait on collection of the $5,000. Most likely they will agree with that but it all depends on the lender. So long that she keeps communicating with them on the progress they may allow her to stay behind $5,000 so long she is keeps paying monthly payments going forward.