Sold a property … 2005 Palm Harbor triple-wide on 3+ acres … I held the mortgage.
Received a hefty down payment and several months of mortgage payments.
Then payments stopped.
Hired a real estate attorney. After third missing mortgage payment, we filed for foreclosure.
The day before the foreclosure hearing, the guy filed for bankruptcy.
The civil proceeding (foreclosure) was immediately halted. Hired a bankruptcy attorney. Waited nine months until the guy failed to abide to the payment schedule that was set up for him by the bankruptcy court, resulting in his case being dismissed.
Back to civil court … then, the day before the 2nd scheduled hearing, he filed for bankruptcy again! Another nine months of waiting, until they dismissed it for his failure to abide to payment schedule.
For the third time the foreclosure hearing was scheduled … and true to form, for the 3rd time, he filed for bankruptcy! This time the bankruptcy court refused him!
Foreclosure hearing was held and foreclosure sale was set. I was allowed by the court to bid up to the amount that was owed to me. No one bid higher and I got ownership back.
Meanwhile, the guy and his family were living in the house all this time! Over time I watched as they dismantled and removed a shed from the property and there was nothing I could do about it. I watched the 4-board fencing disappear and I could do nothing about it. Of course, he was also trashing the inside of the house during this period of time.
On the day he finally moved out (almost three years from the beginning of my actions against him) he loaded my 5-ton A/C unit and my refrigerator onto his trailer! I called the sheriff … there was nothing they could do … I’d have to take him to civil court (lol).
That night, although the power was turned off, there was a mysterious fire near the power box. Luckily the house didn’t burn down. I had to replace the wiring and make other repairs.
I also had to pay three years’ worth of back taxes. He had several code violations that I had to correct, and he had two liens. The lien holders tried to come after me without success.
My advice is: forget about finding the deadbeats … file for foreclosure and get the property back asap.