Blog Post

Losing your home to foreclosure of an HOA Lien: Yes, it can happen to you!

Posted by: Marlyn Wiener
December 27, 2007
Topic: Foreclosures

 

I have received many calls from homeowners during the past few months who have fallen behind in the payment of homeowner's association assessments. Liens for unpaid assessments were filed against their properties by their HOAs. Unlike most of us, several of these homeowners owned their properties free and clear of any mortgage. This meant that the HOA lien was a first lien on the property. If the lien was foreclosed upon and the property was sold at sheriff's sale- the homeowner would lose their property for failure to pay the late assessments. In one case, the homeowner lost her home for failure to pay less than $10,000 in late assessments on a property worth more than $350,000. Bottom line: do not ignore your HOA assessments and explore every option available to raise the funds to pay the assessments. One option would be to obtain a loan against the property to provide funds to be used to carry it, including payment of HOA assessments. Another option (admittedly challenging in this real estate market!) would be a sale of the property.


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