Florida foreclosures begin when the lending financial institution holding a mortgage takes court action against a home owner because of a default of delinquency in their payments. The lender must first notify the individual homeowner of their intent to foreclose through the mail or some other written document. If the homeowner does not send a reply to the lender about the action being taken by the court, the lender can them request the court to rule on the default of the specific Florida foreclosures and decide who gets legal ownership of the property.



If the homeowner is found to be in default, the lender will make the total amount the borrower owes and a date will be set for the auction of foreclosed homes owned by that lender.

By law, the Florida foreclosures lender does not have to notify the default homeowner know they are initiating the process of foreclosure but those holding individual deeds of trust or mortgage might need this notification. Any homeowner in default has the option to halt the foreclosure before the final date if they can find a way to pay the amount they owe the lender or financial institution.

The auction date is usually no more than 35 days following the initial ruling given by the court but might be changed due to other circumstances and the specific court being used. The specific clerk of court gives a sale notice to the public. This provides the information on where the sale will be held, the date of the sale, and the specific time of the sale. This notice will need to be in publication for at least two weeks. The second sale notice is given in the same way five days prior to the sale.

The clerk of court is the one who usually deals with the details of the sale. The one who wins the auction bid for the property provides a five percent down payment to hold the property and the remainder by the closing of the same day. If the purchaser can not do this, the property is put up for sale 20 days later in the same place. Once the sale has been completed, the purchaser will receive a sale certificate from the clerk of court stating it is paid in full.

Ten days later, the purchaser receives final ownership from the clerk of court if there is no dispute with the auction. Most of the time, the borrower is not able to claim the home once the sale certificate is given to the new purchaser.