What can we do, what are our rights?

[atxacromom1]

What is the name of your state? Texas

Hello, we received a letter from an Attorneys office of a Notice of Acceleration and Notice of Posting & Foreclosure. It states that in three weeks they are planning to auction our house. Can this legally be done? We have not received anything from a court or legally been served.

To give you a little information. My husband worked offshore for 17 years, and was injured in November of 2006 and was off work for several weeks. In December we started to get behind on our mortgage, though we did contact them and let them know of our situation. In January he lost his job. And he began looking for work closer to home. Finally in May he went back to work with a major pay-cut (30K) less. But in April we took out his 401K so we could catch up on our bills. We did. But because he did not start work until the end of May and his first check was the first week of June we got behind again. on the payments. We send partial payments to show our intent and good faith, but the mortgage company send them back. (Option One Mortgage) stating they do not accept partial payments at all. We are now soon to be three months behind and want to keep our house, we have contacted them several times and down what they have ask, abour sending in copies of paycheck stubs, bank statements... etc... There only reply is we can send in a reinstatement fee but they will then have to review the loan and that will be 30-60 days and possible after the sale of our home. They seem to not care about working with us at all. So my question is.... What can we legally do and is it legal for them to just auction off our home with out going through the court systems? Thank you so much we await your response. (We have only lived in the home a little over 1 year and purchased it after our loss of our home from hurricane katrina).

[Shay-Pari'e]

Perfectly legal.

[LindaP777]

Originally Posted by atxacromom1

So my question is.... What can we legally do and is it legal for them to just auction off our home with out going through the court systems?

Have you not recieved a notice from the court? Call the clerk of court in your county and see if they have anything on file. If you county court has a web site (just google it), you might be able to find out what you need to on line.

[FlyingRon]

Originally Posted by atxacromom1

Hello, we received a letter from an Attorneys office of a Notice of Acceleration and Notice of Posting & Foreclosure. It states that in three weeks they are planning to auction our house. Can this legally be done? We have not received anything from a court or legally been served.

That is your legal notice. In Texas you file with the court and send a copy to the borrower 21 days in advance.

So my question is.... What can we legally do and is it legal for them to just auction off our home with out going through the court systems?

They are following the legal procedure most likely. Texas mortgages usually have a power of sale clause in the deed of trust that you agreed to when you signed the mortgage papers. This lets them on go through the non-judicial foreclosure on the 21 day notice as you were given.

Short of making an agreement with the mortgage company or starting bankruptcy proceedings, there isn't much else.

[atxacromom1]

Thank you all for your replies.
Yes there is that clause in the mortgage paperwork.
Short of us coming up with $5300 to pay the back mortgage payments and attorney fees, to possible keep it from going to act of foreclosure... What then happens if they auction off the house? Do they have us get out right away, do they allow us to move and give us notice? What happens with the loans on the property. ie.. 1st loan is 107K 2nd loan is 26K (we did a 80/20) house is currently tax appraised for 153K.

As the paper work only states the 1st loan, nothing about the 2nd. Also, if we did consider filing a bankruptcy what type would we file and does that necessarally guarantee that we can keep the house if we reaffirm it through a BK.
Thank you all again.

[FlyingRon]

You have three days from the sale to move or the buyer can start eviction proceedings against you.

The paperwork doesn't have to say anything about the other liens. Essentially the proceeds pay off the lienholders based on their priority (taxes, then the first, then the second).

Frankly if you could sell the house and pay both notes, doing so would be MUCH preferable to bankruptcy.

[atxacromom1]

Thank you for your replies.