The lender filed suit, a lis pendens is recorded against your Orlando house, and you need to know how much time you actually have left.
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If you have been served with a foreclosure complaint in Orange County, the most useful thing you can do in the next hour is find out exactly where your case stands. Florida is a judicial foreclosure state, which means your lender has to sue you in circuit court and win before anything is sold. That process takes real time, and time is leverage. Homeowners who act in the first few weeks have options. Homeowners who open nothing and answer nothing usually end up watching the clerk sell the house at auction.
Your case was filed with the Orange County Clerk of Courts and is being heard in the Ninth Judicial Circuit. A lis pendens was recorded against your property, which is the public notice that title is in litigation. That recording is why the mailers started arriving. This page explains how the Florida foreclosure process actually works, what your options are including several that do not involve selling to us, and how a cash sale before the auction can preserve equity that would otherwise be lost. If your case is already close to a scheduled sale date, call us and call an attorney the same day.
This is general information about Florida foreclosure procedure, not legal advice. We are cash buyers, not attorneys and not a loss mitigation company. If you have been served, speak with a Florida foreclosure defense attorney and with a HUD approved housing counselor. Both are worth the call, and housing counseling is typically free.
Florida requires foreclosure through the courts. The general sequence looks like this:
The practical point is that you can generally sell the house right up until the sale happens, and Florida law provides that the right to redeem continues until the certificate of sale is filed or as otherwise specified in the final judgment. Do not assume the judgment ended your options. It did not, but the window after judgment is short.
Look up your parcel at ocpafl.org, then compare a realistic market value to your total payoff plus arrears, fees, and any junior liens. Orlando values across much of Orange County have risen substantially over the last decade, and many homeowners in foreclosure have more equity than they believe. If there is meaningful equity, letting the house go to a clerk auction is close to the worst available outcome, because surplus funds after a foreclosure sale are claimed through a court process and junior lienholders often get there first.
If your hardship has passed and you can cover the arrears or qualify for a modification, this is the best outcome available. You keep the house. Call the servicer's loss mitigation department, submit a complete package, and follow up in writing. A HUD approved counseling agency will help you assemble it for free. The tradeoff is that modifications take time and are not guaranteed, and partial submissions get denied on technicalities.
With equity, a cooperative servicer, and at least a few months before the sale date, listing on the MLS usually nets more than any cash offer. Orlando has active buyer demand. The risks are real though. A financed buyer needs an appraisal and insurance, older roofs in Central Florida frequently fail insurance underwriting, and if the closing slips past your sale date the auction happens anyway. Ask the attorney about seeking a short continuance of the sale if a contract is signed and progressing.
This is the option built for a hard deadline. A cash buyer removes the appraisal, the loan approval, the inspection repair negotiation, and the insurance underwriting from the equation. If there is equity, you capture it instead of losing it at auction. If you are underwater, a cash buyer can sometimes work a short sale with the lender, though that requires the lender's cooperation and takes longer.
If the payoff exceeds the value, the lender must approve a sale for less than what is owed. Short sales in Florida take time and lender approval is never guaranteed. Negotiate in writing whether the lender waives any deficiency, because that term matters more than the price.
You hand the property back voluntarily. It is cleaner than a foreclosure judgment and sometimes comes with relocation assistance, but lenders often refuse when there are junior liens, and you walk away with nothing even if you had equity.
Filing triggers an automatic stay that halts the foreclosure sale immediately. Chapter 13 can let you cure arrears over a repayment plan while keeping the house. Florida homestead protection is unusually strong, though it is subject to acreage limits and, in bankruptcy specifically, to federal caps that apply when the home was acquired recently. This is a serious decision with long consequences and it belongs with a bankruptcy attorney, not with a cash buyer.
The house sells at the clerk auction, ownership transfers by certificate of title, and any surplus becomes a separate court claim. Florida law also allows lenders to pursue a deficiency judgment in certain circumstances, with time limits that differ by property type. This is the outcome to avoid.
Public foreclosure filings in Orange County generate a flood of mail and calls. Protect yourself with a few simple rules. Never sign a deed to someone who promises to let you rent the house back. Never pay a large up front fee for a loan modification promise. Never make mortgage payments to anyone other than your servicer. Read every document before signing and ask a title company or attorney to review anything you do not understand. A legitimate buyer closes through a licensed Florida title company or closing attorney with recorded documents, not at your kitchen table.
We have closed Orange County purchases on compressed timelines specifically because the sale date was near. It is not always possible, and anyone who guarantees a result without seeing your docket is not being straight with you. What we can promise is a fast written offer and an honest answer about whether we can realistically close in time.
We look at the actual filings, the judgment if one exists, and any scheduled sale date. Then we tell you honestly whether a closing can realistically beat that date.
The title company requests your written payoff and runs the search in parallel. Junior liens, code liens, and delinquent taxes get identified early so they do not surface days before closing.
We close through a licensed Florida title company, the mortgage is paid off from proceeds, and the remaining funds are wired to you. No commission and no repair credits taken out.
This guide is written for Orlando, but the same process applies everywhere we buy. Start with your county.
Drag to roughly what your house is worth. These are the costs that come out of a seller's proceeds on an ordinary listing, before anyone talks about repairs. You pay none of them with us.
Estimates, not a quote. Florida seller-side costs run roughly 6.25 to 9 percent of the sale price all in, and these use the conservative middle of that range. Repairs a buyer's inspection turns up are not counted above, and they are usually the bigger number. Our cash offer is below full retail price, which is how we cover the repairs and the resale. If your house is in good shape and you can wait sixty to ninety days, listing with a good agent will usually net you more, and we will tell you so.
Four questions, about thirty seconds. You get an offer range and, more useful than that, what you would walk away with either way. No email required to see it.
The street address is enough. We use it to pull the county record.
Add the address and we can keep going.
Pick the closest one. Be honest, it only changes the repair number, and a rougher house is not a problem for us.
Heated living area. A rough number is fine, and your county property appraiser lists it for free.
Your best guess. Think about what renovated houses on your street sold for, not what yours would fetch today.
How the offer is built. We start from the after-repair value, which is what your Orlando house would sell for once it is fully repaired and updated. We take 68 percent of that, then subtract what the repairs will actually cost. The remaining 32 percent covers our purchase costs, the holding costs while the house is being renovated, the resale costs on the back end, and our margin.
Your offer = (after-repair value × 68%) − repair costs
The repair figures we use. These are per square foot of heated living area, and they are the same numbers we use internally on Orange County houses before we ever see the property:
| Move-in ready | $6 per square foot |
| Light cosmetics | $18 per square foot |
| Needs real repairs | $38 per square foot |
| Major work needed | $65 per square foot |
What listing costs a seller in Florida. Seller-side costs here run about 6.25 to 9 percent of the sale price all in. The comparison on this page uses the conservative middle of that: 5.5 percent agent commission, about 2 percent in documentary stamps, owner's title policy, settlement and lien search fees, and 3 months of taxes, insurance, utilities and upkeep at 0.25 percent of value per month while the house sits on the market. That is roughly 8.25 percent of the sale price, and it comes out of the seller's proceeds. On top of that, a seller listing a house that needs work usually has to spend the repair money first, because an appraiser flags the roof and the air conditioning and an inspection report prices the rest.
What we take on instead.
The honest caveat. If your home is in good condition, you have equity, and you can wait sixty to ninety days, listing with a good agent will usually net you more money than we will. We say that here and on every page of this site because it is true. Our offer is built for sellers who would rather have a closing date they can count on, no repair spending, and no cost of their own, than squeeze out the last few percent.
This is an estimate, not an offer. It is built entirely from numbers you typed in. A real offer comes after we pull the county record and the recent comparable sales near your property, and it can land higher or lower than this.
We check your numbers against the county record and recent sales nearby, then send a written offer, usually within 24 hours. No obligation, and we do not sell your information to anyone.
Florida is a judicial foreclosure state, so the lender must sue and obtain a judgment before any sale. An uncontested case can move from complaint to clerk auction in a matter of months. A contested case with active defenses, discovery, or mediation frequently runs a year or longer. Your actual timeline is on the docket at the Orange County Clerk of Courts, including any scheduled sale date. That docket, not a general estimate, is what you should be planning around.
Generally yes, up until the sale occurs. Florida law provides that the right of redemption continues until the clerk files the certificate of sale, or as otherwise stated in the final judgment. In practice that means a sale can close if the payoff is delivered before the auction. The window is short and unforgiving, so you need a buyer who does not require financing and a title company that can move. Talk to your attorney about whether the sale can be continued.
A completed sale that pays the loan off avoids the foreclosure judgment and sale being recorded against you, which is meaningfully better than letting the auction happen. It does not erase the missed payments already reported. Your credit will still show the delinquency history, but you avoid the foreclosure entry itself and you avoid a possible deficiency claim. Ask your servicer in writing how they will report the account after a payoff.
A lis pendens is a recorded notice that a lawsuit affecting title to the property is pending. In a foreclosure, the lender records it in the Orange County official records maintained by the Comptroller when the case is filed. It warns buyers and lenders that title is in litigation, which is why it makes conventional sales difficult. It is also public, which is why the mail and phone calls started. A payoff at closing resolves it.
Florida allows lenders to seek a deficiency judgment in certain circumstances when the sale proceeds do not cover the judgment amount. The rules and time limits differ depending on the property and the loan, and courts have discretion over the amount. This is one of the strongest arguments for selling before the auction, because a sale that pays the loan in full leaves nothing to pursue. Discuss deficiency exposure with a Florida attorney before choosing to walk away.
Maybe not. If you have substantial equity and several months before any sale date, listing with a good Orlando agent will usually net you more, even after commission. Our offer buys speed and certainty, and that has a cost. Where a cash sale wins is when the sale date is close, when the house needs work a retail buyer will not accept, or when a financed buyer would fail on appraisal or insurance. Compare both before you decide.
We would rather you check our numbers than take our word for it. These are the official records for your property.
Look up your property's assessed value, ownership history, and exemptions. Use this to sanity-check any offer you receive, including ours.
Search foreclosure filings, lis pendens records, and civil case history tied to a property.
The probate court for Orange and Osceola counties. Start here if you inherited a home and need to understand the estate process.
Official record of deeds, mortgages, liens, and judgments recorded against a property.
Check open code violations and accrued daily fines before you sell. Unresolved violations follow the property, not the owner.
Verify whether past work, such as a garage conversion or an addition, was permitted and closed out.
Check delinquent property taxes, tax certificates, and pending tax deed applications.
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Get a no-obligation cash offer in 24 hours. No repairs, no commissions, no showings. Close on the date you choose.