Florida is a judicial foreclosure state. A lender cannot take a Pompano Beach house by sending letters. It must file a lawsuit, win a judgment, and then let the Broward Clerk of Courts sell the property. That takes longer than foreclosure in many other states. For an owner in Cresthaven, Kendall Green or Collier City, it usually means more time than people expect. This post walks through each stage, what the dates mean, and what you can still do before the sale.
The lis pendens and the accelerated balance
The case starts when the lender’s attorney files a complaint with the Clerk’s Circuit Civil division at the Central Courthouse, 201 SE 6th Street in Fort Lauderdale. At the same time the attorney records a lis pendens in Broward’s official records, which the Records, Taxes and Treasury Division keeps at the Governmental Center on Andrews Avenue. A lis pendens is a public notice that the property is in litigation. Any title search will show it. The loan is also accelerated. Acceleration means the lender now demands the whole balance, not just the missed payments. To stop the case before judgment, the owner pays that accelerated balance plus the lender’s reasonable foreclosure costs and attorney’s fees. No county-specific foreclosure mediation program was found for Broward, so the case moves on the court’s calendar.
Final judgment and the sale date
If the owner does not answer, or the court rules for the lender, the judge enters a final judgment of foreclosure. The judgment states the amount owed and orders the sale. Under Fla. Stat. 45.031 the clerk sets the sale 20 to 35 days after the judgment. The judgment can also state a deadline for the owner to redeem. Keep a copy. That date matters more than it looks, as the redemption section below explains.
The online sale at broward.realforeclose.com
Broward has not held foreclosure sales on the courthouse steps since 2010. The Clerk runs them online at broward.realforeclose.com. Bidders register in advance. Each bidder posts a deposit of 5% of the anticipated high bid by 3:00 pm on the business day before the sale. The winner pays the balance plus the clerk’s registry fees by noon on the next business day. After the sale the clerk files a certificate of sale, a record of who won and at what price. Any party then has 10 days to object to the sale. If no objection is sustained, the clerk issues the certificate of title. That document transfers ownership to the buyer. If the bid was higher than the judgment, the difference is surplus. Junior lienholders are paid first. The former owner claims what remains through the Clerk’s Owner’s Civil Claim for Mortgage Foreclosure Surplus form. Surplus is slower and usually smaller than selling before the sale.
Redemption, and the deadline many people get wrong
Redemption means paying the full judgment amount with interest and costs and keeping the house. Florida has no redemption once the sale is final. Before that, Fla. Stat. 45.0315 gives the owner the right to redeem until the LATER of two moments: the clerk filing the certificate of sale, or the time stated in the judgment. If the judgment set a later date, the certificate of sale does not end the right. Reinstatement follows the same rule. Until the certificate of sale is filed, the owner can cure by paying the judgment amount, or before judgment the accelerated balance plus reasonable costs and fees. A sale of the house by the owner that pays the lender in full leads the lender’s attorney to cancel the sale and dismiss the case. The owner’s sale does not end the case by itself. The lender’s attorney does that.
Deficiency after the sale
If the auction brings less than the judgment, the lender may seek a deficiency judgment. That is a separate money judgment for the gap, and it follows the person, not the house. For a one-to-four unit residential property, the lender must bring the claim within 1 year after the certificate of title is issued (Fla. Stat. 95.11(6)(g), in force since July 1, 2013). For an owner-occupied home there is a cap under Fla. Stat. 702.06. The deficiency cannot exceed the judgment amount minus the property’s fair market value on the sale date. It is not simply the debt minus the auction bid. That cap matters in Pompano Beach, where the median house was built in 1974 and an older home with a tired roof can draw thin bidding.
What a homeowner can still do before the sale
Several things, and all of them work better early.
- Answer the complaint. An unanswered case moves fastest.
- Call a HUD-approved housing counselor. It is free and covers loan workouts and other options.
- Ask about bankruptcy. A filing imposes an automatic stay that pauses the sale, with exceptions for repeat filers and lender motions for relief. Ask a bankruptcy attorney, not a website.
- Reinstate or redeem using the figures above, if the money exists.
- Sell the house. This is the only route that returns equity and does not need the lender’s permission. The title company orders the payoff from the lender’s attorney. At closing the loan is paid in full, and the attorney cancels the sale and dismisses the case. Your net is the price minus the payoff minus any other liens.
Pompano Beach Cash Buyers buys houses as-is in this situation. We give a written offer within 24 hours of the visit, pay the customary closing costs, and can close in about a week once the title is clear. In a Broward market with about seven months of supply and listings taking roughly two to three months to sell, that speed is the point. Credit benefits from selling exist only if closing happens before the judgment is entered, so the earlier the call, the more it protects. If the sale date is already set, we can still close as long as the payoff reaches the lender before the redemption deadline described above.