Expert: Dennis Herman - 9/30/2009

Question
I am 160 days behind on an investment property in Florida and I live in Kansas. I have a pending short sale and approval from the 1st, waiting on the 2nd.  The 1st went ahead and served foreclosure papers to the management office at the condo.  I know I have 20 days to have an attorney respond.  Don't they have to serve me or does the clock start when they delivered papers to the condo office. I am very easy to find and have made no attempt to hide.
Thanks,
Phil

Answer
I am a licensed Real Estate Agent on the state of Wisconsin, specializing in marketing. If you are already working with an attorney, that is great.   They should have access to all the contracts and know the entire situation.  I have no idea what deadlines are required to serve any type of papers or notices.  

I would suggest, you or your attorney can contact the lender as soon as possible.  Show a willingness to work this situation out.  I know for a fact, working with lenders these days does take time.  This seems to be my life, hurry up and wait.  

You may also want to check out your rights on the following government web site.  If you do seek help in this matter make sure it is a firm in good standing.  When seeking advise also make sure you get the information from a site ending in .gov such as HUD.gov for government.  The slashes / after the .gov represent a location on the web site.

http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD/topics/avoiding_foreclosure